While the citizens of Puerto Rico persevere through the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Maria, the island’s creditors are engaged in a very different recovery effort. At the very moment when the island needs relief, those creditors are trying to increase the value of their debt holdings. Few things could be more damaging to Puerto Rico’s ability to rebuild.

President Trump, who visited Puerto Rico on Tuesday, has said in tweets that the island’s debts “sadly must be dealt with.” That is true — but not by enhancing creditors’ returns. Instead, the island’s crushing debt should be reduced to the maximum extent through the legal framework established by Congress last year.

Mr. Trump himself now seems to agree with that idea, without offering details. “They owe a lot of money to your friends on Wall Street and we’re going to have to wipe that out,” he said in an interview on Fox News Tuesday. “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.”

Before Hurricane Maria, Puerto Rico was already enduring a debt crisis. The commonwealth had accumulated more than $70 billion in debt, paying interest rates as high as 8.5 percent. The public pension funds were depleted, and Medicaid money allotted from the Affordable Care Act had nearly run out. Gross national product had dropped by 15 percent since 2006, and the population had shrunk by more than 10 percent.