Analysis: Jones Act waivers risk Puerto Rico jobs
By Julio Rivera. Puerto Rico has seen this novela before. A crisis erupts overseas. Markets panic. Fuel prices jump. And suddenly, the same people who have spent years attacking the Jones Act reappear with a familiar pitch. Suspend it. Waive it. Treat cabotage as the villain and promise relief just around the corner. Now Washington […]
Emergency Energy Waiver Doesn’t Match the Market
By George Landrith, President, Frontiers of Freedom. America needs a strong oil and gas industry. We also need a strong American maritime industry. Those two propositions should not be in conflict. In a serious nation, energy security and maritime security reinforce each other. Refineries keep our economy moving, our farms productive, our military supplied, and […]
What the Washington Post Gets Wrong about the Jones Act
After more than 100 days, ships using the Jones Act waiver moved only about 32 million barrels of petroleum. That is roughly 1.5 percent of U.S. petroleum consumption during that same period. According to analysis from American Maritime Partnership and Navigistics Consulting, about 18 percent of waiver voyages were performed by vessels linked to Chinese […]
Trump’s Jones Act waiver isn’t ‘America First,’ it’s a gift to foreign fleets
By William P. Doyle, CEO, Dredging Contractors of America. The Trump administration acted quickly after the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz, temporarily waiving the Jones Act in hopes of easing pressure on American fuel markets. That was an emergency decision. The question now is whether the facts still justify it. They do not. The […]
Opinion: The Case for the Jones Act: American Commerce, Workers, Security
By James L. Henry, Chairman, Transportation Institute. For more than 130 days, President Trump has waived the Jones Act, letting foreign ships carry cargo between American ports. Supporters of the waiver call this free trade. It isn’t. Moving oil from Texas to New Jersey is domestic commerce, not trade, any more than a UPS truck […]
Shipping Waiver Subsidizes Beijing’s Fleet and Weakens Shipyards
By Michael D. Purzycki. June 23, 2026 On March 18, less than three weeks into the conflict with Iran, President Trump signed a waiver of the Jones Act. Originally meant to last 60 days, it was later extended an additional 90 days. While this waiver was officially intended to lower gasoline prices that rose when […]
Jones Act Waiver Has Proven Why Repeal Is the Wrong Answer
By Jennifer Carpenter, President of the American Maritime Partnership. 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 […]
Gas Prices and the Jones Act: A Market Reality Check
By Sam Norton, CEO of Overseas Shipholding Group. Gasoline prices in the US are on the rise and the Trump Administration is “looking at all options” to reverse this inconvenient collateral effect of war in the Middle East. A reflexive impulse of those seeking easy answers to a complicated problem is to boldly suggest that […]
Automation Serves as a Workforce Multiplier for Maritime
By Brooklyn Kiosow, Marketing Communications Manager at Formic. Across the U.S., manufacturers are racing to meet growing demand for products. But with too few people to fill critical production roles, many are turning to temporary labor, overtime, and outsourcing just to keep up. On the production floor, employees are feeling the physical toll: lifting, stacking, […]
Jennifer Carpenter: America First Requires the Jones Act
By Jennifer Carpenter, President of the American Maritime Partnership. It comes as no surprise that President Donald Trump is building a legacy as a consequential maritime president. After all, there are few areas of our economy that are more America First than the U.S. maritime industry. We have been a maritime nation since our founding, […]