President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that he will have to wipe out Puerto Rico’s debt as the island rebuilds from the destruction caused by two hurricanes.
“We are going to work something out. We have to look at their whole debt structure,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News that aired Tuesday night. “You know they owe a lot of money to your friends on Wall Street. We’re gonna have to wipe that out. That’s gonna have to be — you know, you can say goodbye to that. I don’t know if it’s Goldman Sachs but whoever it is, you can wave good-bye to that.”
Puerto Rico has $74 billion in debt and has begun to default on its debt over the past couple years as the island has struggled with budget deficits. Puerto Rico’s financial situation leaves the island in a poor position to pay for a large recovery effort without help from the federal government.
Since Hurricane Maria ravaged the island, Trump has placed a lot of emphasis on the island’s debt. The President has complained that Puerto Rico is not willing to manage the recovery on its own and even remarked that the recovery effort there will throw off the federal budget.
Trump did not make similar comments about the burden of paying for recovery after hurricanes swept through Texas and Florida, which Democratic leaders have noted.
Watch the interview via Fox News:
