We have all foreign ships already transporting to the US.
This is just moving stuff between US ports.
It seems unwise, when foreign vessels can bring their stuff here, without issue, but a question to ask is why would we want foreign ships to take out stuff to another US port? That brings up the question of how did our ownshipping become so laden with costs?
> This is just moving stuff between US ports. <
Right. But I think my comments still stand. A significant amount of cargo moves between US ports. Allow foreign ships to do that, and we would have no merchant marine at all.
Plus consider shipping on, say, the Great Lakes. Do we really want foreign ships doing that?
> That brings up the question of how did our own shipping become so laden with costs? <
Excellent question. US-flagged ships operate under many rules. Safety rules, pay rules, etc. Foreign ships do not have those constraints.
Is the cheaper goods trade-off worth it? Just asking.