A week after Hurricane Maria ravaged Puerto Rico leaving the island with a grave agriculture crisis, Donald Trump waives the historic Jones Act, a bill preventing foreign ships from importing goods and services to the U.S. colony.
“At @ricardorossello request, @POTUS has authorized the Jones Act be waived for Puerto Rico. It will go into effect immediately,” tweeted White House Press Secretary, Sarah Sanders.
At @ricardorossello request, @POTUS has authorized the Jones Act be waived for Puerto Rico. It will go into effect immediately.
— Sarah Sanders (@PressSec) September 28, 2017
The decision to forgo the act came after critics blasted Washington for not immediately lifting the obscure and nearly 100-year-old law that requires all goods ferried between U.S. ports to be carried on ships built, owned and operated by Americans.
“Right now we are in emergency mode,” Rosselló said on Wednesday (Sept. 27) of the devastation that has left millions in Puerto Rico without electricity, clean food and water. “Our focus is not necessarily restoring energy. The energy grid has been destroyed. … And we need to rebuild it. That does not get rebuilt in days.”
According to CNN, Rosselló said he had not previously asked POTUS to lift the Jones Act so that aid might flow more fully to the island: “I did not solicit that to him personally but it is something that would help Puerto Rico, certainly, at least in the short run.”
Looks like a recent request directly from Rosselló has swayed 45.