U.S. President Donald Trump sits between Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello and first lady Melania Trump, as he receives a briefing on hurricane damage at Muniz Air National Guard Base in Carolina, Puerto Rico, U.S., October 3, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

(Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Tuesday while on a trip to Puerto Rico to observe hurricane recovery efforts that the island’s massive debt will have to be wiped out.

“They owe a lot of money to your friends on Wall Street and we’re going to have to wipe that out. You’re going to say goodbye to that, I don’t know if it’s Goldman Sachs but whoever it is you can wave goodbye to that,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News.

Puerto Rico, which earlier this year filed the biggest bankruptcy in U.S. municipal history, is struggling to regain economic stability in the face of a $72 billion debt load and near-insolvent public health and pension systems.