This is interesting. Being a Brazilian, our government has been always protectionist. Even in the current New Republic period. "Industries vital to our country

This is interesting. Being a Brazilian, our government has been always protectionist. Even in the current New Republic period. "Industries vital to our country must be protected". And oddly enough, that idea was shared by many politicians, even when they were opposed to each other. The govt has been harshly criticized by the recent, new libertarians, for the import taxes increased prices to the end consumer and scared away foreign investors. Turns out that we had national mask makers ready to step up. Plus, textile and other industries decided to also jump in to help. I bought three masks before taking a flight recently, I didn't have any trouble finding them, paid less than a dollar for a locally made N95 equivalent; it seems that many of my flight mates had the same idea. I guess our old politicians nailed it, at least this time.