President Donald Trump waived the shipping ban for Puerto Rico on Thursday which according to the island’s governor complicates and raises the price of the hurricane aid, The Washington Post reports.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary revealed this decision in a tweet. The move comes after the harsh criticism that the White House has been very slow to react and send aid to Puerto Rico in order the country to recover from the devastating Hurricane Maria.
Puerto Rico’s governor, Ricardo Rosselló, had stated Wednesday that he expected the waiver, which suspends a 1920 law requiring that only American-flagged vessels be used for shipments between two U.S. ports. The law more commonly known as the Jones Act limits the number of ships that could be sent to Puerto Rico, which is a U.S. territory, and thus a number of relief supplies that have come in since the hurricane.
The Department of Homeland Security had said as recently as Monday that the law would not be suspended. The department said then that there were sufficient ships available to meet the need.
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