AmericasRegulatory

White House backs away from requiring all US food aid to be carried by US-flagged ships

The White House has tacked away from plans to require all US food aid to be delivered on US-flagged ships, according to Reuters.

A day after reports that President Donald Trump was going to issue an executive order for 100% of aid to be transported by American vessels, the administration backed away from the idea after hearing a chorus of complaints about it from members of the US Congress.

Currently the US requires that only 50% of aid be carried on US ships.

While the motive for the first idea was driven by President Trump’s “America First” philosophy, critics said it would have had the negative double whammy of making the food more expensive and slower to deliver.

And it would have done little to boost American jobs.

Donal Scully

With 28 years experience writing and editing for newspapers in the UK and Hong Kong, Donal is now based in California from where he covers the Americas for Splash as well as ensuring the site is loaded through the Western Hemisphere timezone.

Comments

  1. If the USA taxpayers are paying for aid to poorer countries then the recipients should see that these handouts are arriving in USA flagged ships. The same applies to UK foreign aid mostly carried in non British flagged ships. The aid arrives and I am quite sure that the majority of the inhabitants have no idea or even care what our generous countries are doing for them. It’s a pity that President Trump’s idea wasn’t carried through.

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