The Trump administration suspended the Jones Act for sixty days starting March 18, 2026, allowing foreign-built, foreign-flagged tankers to move oil between US ports in a bid to keep domestic fuel prices down — the most significant waiver of the century-old cabotage law since the end of World War II. The move reopened a long-running debate over whether the law, meant to protect a domestic merchant marine, still serves that purpose.
The numbers underline the strain: the US now has just 93 Jones Act-eligible oceangoing vessels of at least 1,000 gross tons, down from 434 in 1950, and produced only 0.04% of global commercial shipbuilding output in 2024 — trailing Malaysia and Taiwan. An American-built cargo ship now costs $190-250 million against roughly $30 million for an equivalent foreign-built vessel, a gap critics say no amount of protection can close without deeper reform.
Source: CleanTechnica — https://cleantechnica.com/2026/05/15/jones-act-waiver-exposes-americas-shipbuilding-gap/
Tags: Jones Act, United States, North America
