He claims he’s a fighter for the common man, but President Trump stood with the special interests, Wednesday, when he defended not waiving the Jones Act that governs shipping between U.S. ports.
Many in Congress want the act, which bans foreign constructed, flagged, or 26 percent foreign crewed vessels from transporting goods between U.S. ports, waived so that more supplies can be delivered to hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico.
Unfortunately, Trump disagrees, arguing that “A lot of people that work in the shipping industry… don’t want the Jones Act lifted. And we have a lot of ships out there right now.”
It’s a poor excuse.
For one, Puerto Rico is in desperate need of basic goods, so foreign shipping companies have an obvious profit incentive to supply those goods as quickly and abundantly as possible. But they can’t, so Puerto Ricans will suffer unnecessarily.
Still, the Jones Act isn’t just bad in relation to Puerto Rico.
After all, considering the vast number of goods that flow between U.S ports before ending up in American stores, the Jones Act forces American consumers to pay an unnecessarily high marginal cost for goods. Were foreign vessels allowed to compete to supply goods more affordably, the lower total cost of putting those goods on shelves would be reflected in lower prices at the point of sale.
Yes, it might only be a few cents for each good, but those cents would quickly add up in dollars saved.
In that sense, repealing the Jones Act would benefit less wealthy Americans the most. You know, the same Americans that Trump pledged to serve in Washington.
At least on this issue, Trump is mastering the swamp.
