For years, critics of the Jones Act have made the same promises: Repeal the law, allow foreign vessels into domestic trade and American consumers will see lower prices and stronger supply chains. Now the real-world test case is underway, and it is failing to make a difference.
Even as policymakers of both parties agree on the need for robust American border security, the Jones Act waiver has blown a hole in America’s largest border — 95,000 miles of coastline — opening it up to foreign vessels and foreign crews who don’t comply with U.S. immigration, tax, labor or other laws. The result is harm to American homeland security and to a strategically vital American industry, with zero benefit to the American consumer.
The Jones Act reserves domestic maritime trade for American-built, American-crewed and American-flagged vessels. This creates a stable market signal for investment in vessels and crew dedicated to serving U.S. needs. Some 105 countries — including allies South Korea, Japan, Australia and Canada — have similar laws. More nations have adopted these laws since the COVID-19 pandemic exposed how fragile global supply chains can be.
The Trump administration’s broad Jones Act waiver was promoted as a way to improve domestic fuel flows and ease price pressures by allowing foreign ships with foreign crews to transport critical energy cargoes along our coasts, inland waterways and to noncontiguous territories. The waiver has not accomplished either goal.
Gas prices are driven by forces far larger than shipping rules, including global crude prices, refinery capacity, state fuel standards, taxes and wholesale market dynamics. The national cost-effect of U.S.-flag shipping has been estimated at $0.0027 per gallon (less than a third of a penny), with higher estimates placing the potential difference at 1.5 cents per gallon. Americans are seeing more effect from President Donald Trump’s negotiations with the Iranian regime than from the waiver.
Even before the announcement, critics such as the Cato Institute walked back their earlier price-reduction claims, acknowledging that the cost impact of American shipping requirements is negligible.
Officials have since focused more narrowly on getting fuel to California. That, too, has yet to materialize. Critics have argued that without the Jones Act, California would receive more fuel from the Gulf Coast, and some presidential advisers have repeated that logic in congressional testimony and in the media. Yet, no meaningful increase in shipments has followed.
Why? Because commodities move to where returns are highest. If Gulf Coast refiners and traders earn more by exporting to Europe or Asia, they will. The opportunity to use a foreign-flagged ship that avoids U.S. tax, labor and environmental requirements is not enough of a demand signal to persuade patriotic action out of a globalized industry. According to Reuters, fuel exports have surged as refiners shipped product abroad, where profit margins were stronger. Some fuel cargoes meant for the East Coast even reversed direction and moved overseas rather than taking advantage of the waiver.
That is precisely where the importance of American maritime becomes clear. The Jones Act keeps ships, mariners and supporting infrastructure anchored in the domestic market rather than chasing short-term returns abroad. In periods of volatility, that capacity matters. It is why foreign tankers have been charging rates nearly twice those of Jones Act vessels, while our carriers keep rates steady.
The U.S.-flagged fleet, 45,000 vessels strong, provides reliability, accountability and capacity the nation can lean upon. Regardless of the waiver, American carriers are moving fuel, fertilizer and other critical cargoes between U.S. ports. Without the Jones Act, the U.S. would be dependent on outside actors — including our adversaries — to move strategic goods within our own borders. That would weaken supply-chain resilience, undercut American jobs, open immigration loopholes and erode the industrial base our military depends on.
This is why the Jones Act continues to enjoy strong bipartisan support in Congress. Policymakers understand the stakes of “giving up the ship.”
The crisis has shown it is time to move past the debate on keeping or repealing the Jones Act. The results of the waiver have shown the critics’ case to be meritless. It is time to put America first by supporting the capacity that keeps our economy and national security resilient, not tearing it down.
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