Forwarders group urges action on Trump infrastructure promises

The coming presidency of Donald J. Trump may still seem like a large, unsettling question mark across the American landscape, but at least one air cargo group is excited about one of his campaign pledges. The Airforwarders Association is holding the incoming Trump Administration to its promise to invest US$1trillion (with a “T”) to “fix our inner cities” and rebuild the nation’s public works projects, such as highways, bridges, tunnels, airports, schools and hospitals.

Infrastructure was a major part of Trump’s campaign, and he told Fox News that “nobody can build better than I can. Nobody knows construction better.” The question now is, can he finagle the political side of getting that kind of spending package through the U.S. House and Senate?

AfA’s Executive Director Brandon Fried stated that air forwarders, “wholeheartedly agree with President-elect Trump’s desire to build the next generation of roads, bridges, railway, tunnels, seaports, and airports.”

Fried added, “We understand that President-elect Trump will have many competing objectives in the first 100 days of his administration. We firmly believe that infrastructure investment right out the gate will have the most direct impact on U.S. citizens and businesses, and will demonstrate that bipartisanship can work for all Americans.”

Functioning infrastructure is critical to aviation-related supply chains, which depend on working roads, airports and waterways to facilitate the delivery of millions of shipments every day. “Time is money in our business, and a better infrastructure equates to cost savings, more profits and ultimately the creation of more jobs in our industry,” Fried explained. “As a businessman, Mr. Trump gets the nexus to our industry.”