Trump Suspends Jones Act to Ease Oil Shipping Rules and Gas Price Pressures

The Jones Act dictates that only U.S.-made ships can move cargo between U.S. ports. They charge customers more for shipping than foreign vessels.

The Trump administration said on Wednesday that it would temporarily relax a maritime law that restricts the way oil is shipped within the United States, as it seeks to stem the rise in fuel prices resulting from the war in the Middle East.

Relaxing the law, known as the Jones Act, could reduce the cost of transporting fuel and agricultural products by ship between American ports, but analysts and some shipping executives expect the move to have only a marginal impact on gasoline prices.

President Trump is waiving the Jones Act requirements for 60 days “to mitigate the short-term disruptions to the oil market as the U.S. military continues meeting the objectives of Operation Epic Fury,” Karoline Leavitt, a White House spokeswoman, said on X.

Ms. Leavitt added that the waiver would allow “vital resources like oil, natural gas, fertilizer, and coal to flow freely to U.S. ports.”

The Jones Act dictates that only ships made in the United States can pick up cargo at American ports and transport it to another U.S. port. Such vessels, which must also be crewed by Americans, cost customers more than foreign ships. The restriction has been waived before, for instance after Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico in 2017 and in 2021, when an energy pipeline was shut down by a cyberattack.

The introduction of cheaper foreign vessels is expected to shave only pennies off the cost of gasoline, which has jumped 29 percent to an average of $3.84 per gallon, from $2.98 on Feb. 28, when the United States and Israel started their attacks on Iran, according to AAA.

The largest component of gasoline prices is the cost of oil, which has surged around 40 percent since the start of the war, as Iran responded by effectively shutting down oil exports from the Persian Gulf.

Christopher Knittel, associate dean for climate and sustainability at M.I.T., said academic research had found that the Jones Act added about 1.5 cents to the cost of gasoline.

“It’s not a huge number, but adds up given how much gasoline we consume,” he said.

The Jones Act, passed in 1920 to ensure that the United States had sufficient shipping capacity, does not apply to vessels transporting goods from foreign countries.

Shipbuilding executives and union leaders say the United States needs the law to protect its maritime industries.

Samuel Norton, the chief executive of Overseas Shipholding Group, an American tanker company, said it was rising crude oil prices— not transport costs — driving up the price of gasoline at the pump. He said the Trump administration granted the waiver as a “political response” to show that it was “doing something” about rising gas prices.

Mr. Norton said Jones Acts waivers are necessary when the U.S. fuel transportation system loses significant capacity — as occurred during the pipeline hack in 2021 — but that is not happening now, he said.

Though Mr. Norton said he didn’t think the 60-day waiver will do significant harm to U.S. shipping companies, granting the waiver now might encourage opponents of the Jones Act to push for a waiver whenever the market for cargo appears stressed.

The American Maritime Partnership, a group that represents American shipowners, shipbuilders and some maritime workers, said in a statement that it was “deeply concerned” that the waiver would be abused by foreign shipping companies. It said the waiver is meant only to address an immediate threat to military operations, referring to the section of the Jones Act on when waivers can be granted.

“Every vessel movement under this waiver must be publicly disclosed and justified according to federal law,” the group said. “We will be watching closely, and so will the American public.”

But the Jones Act’s critics say it piles costs on businesses and consumers — particularly those in Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico, whose economies rely far more on American shipping — and has led to a reduction in the share of goods transported by water.

“The Trump administration’s decision to grant Jones Act waivers amidst war and rising energy costs exposes both the law’s economic burden and the flimsiness of its national security rationale,” said Colin Grabow, an associate director at the Cato Institute, a research organization that favors less government regulation of business.

In another move aimed at preventing oil price rises, the United States said last week that it was going to release 172 million barrels of oil from its strategic reserves over four months, beginning next week. Crude oil prices rose despite the decision.

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