Share
Executive Order Would Greatly Harm Food Aid by Requiring Use of Only American Ships
Supporting U.S. businesses and American-made products is usually a well-meaning and reasonable thing to do.
Trump is preparing an executive order to require all U.S. food aid to foreign nations be shipped on American ships, Reuters reported [in late June].
There are cases when it's not feasible as there aren't American products or services available.
The American Enterprise Institute, a right-leaning think tank, said in a November report that forcing aid to be shipped on U.S. vessels costs 46 percent more and can take up to 14 weeks longer to arrive at its destination.
So why would Trump and his alt-right cronies try to implement a policy that would be costly to taxpayers? Because it sounds good to his dwindling base and the result is irrelevant to him -- less aid to those in dire need.
"Millions of people could be denied the food aid they need to survive if the cargo preference requirement is doubled," Tom Hart, North America executive director at the anti-poverty nonprofit One Campaign, told Reuters.
In fact, current policy is already a terrible deal for the U.S. and those needing our aid. We need to have a less restrictive policy so the funds go to the aid itself, not spent on wasteful overhead.
Current U.S. policy dictates that 50 percent of U.S. food aid be shipped on American vessels. That requirement is already unpopular with lawmakers in both parties, who say the measure increases costs while not creating jobs.
Aid groups, and members of Congress from both parties have been working for years to lower, or eliminate, the 50 percent shipping requirement. The United States, the world's largest provider of humanitarian assistance, spent about $2.8 billion on foreign food aid in 2016. About half of that is estimated to go to shipping and storage.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-aid-exclusive-idUSKBN19K33S