Foreign ships

White House: Trump to allow foreign ships to supply Puerto Rico

By COLIN WILHELM

The White House said Thursday morning that President Donald Trump will grant a waiver to the Jones Act, a law that blocks non-U.S.-flagged ships from transporting supplies to Puerto Rico, to help the commonwealth recover from Hurricane Maria.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced the waiver via Twitter and said “it will go into effect immediately.”

Puerto Rico had petitioned the DHS for a waiver to the act as it struggles with shortages of water and fuel. The Trump administration denied that request two days ago, and the president told reporters yesterday that, “we have a lot of shippers and a lot of people and a lot of people who work in the shipping industry that don't want the Jones Act lifted.”

Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello continued to press the U.S. government for a waiver, including on morning cable news television Thursday. Senate Republicans John McCain and Marco Rubio also called for the waiver, as did most congressional Democrats.