President Donald Trump on Wednesday waived the Jones Act for 60 days, suspending the 1920 law that mandates domestic shipping between US ports be conducted on American-built and American-flagged vessels. The move allows foreign tankers to carry oil and gas along US coastal routes, most critically to supply East Coast refineries that rely on waterborne crude deliveries.
The administration is navigating a difficult balance: prosecuting the US-Israel military campaign against Iran while trying to prevent the associated supply disruption from feeding through to US pump prices. Oil and gas prices have risen sharply since the conflict escalated, and East Coast fuel markets are particularly exposed given their dependence on seaborne supply.
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the administration "remains committed to continuing to strengthen our critical supply chains," framing the waiver as a supply-security measure rather than an emergency intervention.
Jones Act waivers are not unprecedented. The law has been suspended previously following major hurricanes to allow faster fuel delivery to affected regions, and a temporary waiver was granted after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and again after Hurricanes Harvey and Maria in 2017. A 60-day window, however, is notable for being tied to an active geopolitical conflict rather than a domestic natural disaster.
The practical effect is to open competition on coastal shipping routes to lower-cost foreign vessels, reducing the freight premium that US shippers currently command. Domestic maritime operators and the Jones Act's traditional backers in the shipping and shipbuilding industries are likely to oppose the move.
