(CNN) President Donald Trump said during Wednesday's White House press briefing that he will be invoking the Defense Production Act to help make up for potential medical supply shortages and deploy two hospital ships as the US battles the coronavirus pandemic . Trump said that he sees the country on wartime footing and himself as a wartime president amid the coronavirus crisis. "I view it -- in a sense as a wartime president," Trump said after announcing he was invoking the Defense Production Act, which was established in 1950 in response to production needs during the Korean War. The President stressed later Wednesday that he would only use the powers granted under the Defense Production Act "in a worst case scenario." "I only signed the Defense Production Act to combat the Chinese Virus should we need to invoke it in a worst case scenario in the future," Trump tweeted.

Source: CNN March 18, 2020 16:19 UTC