Trump May Waive the Jones Act for Oil Shipments. Let’s Repeal It Instead.
President Donald Trump is weighing a temporary waiver of the jones act to ease U. S. oil shipments as energy prices rise amid the war in Iran, White House options show. The jones act restricts coastal cargo to U. S. -built, -owned and -crewed vessels under the Merchant Marine Act of 1920. Advocates in the context of current coverage argue a waiver is a short-term fix; repeal would be a permanent remedy.
Why the Jones Act is at the center of the energy debate
At its core, the Merchant Marine Act of 1920 mandates that cargo moved between U. S. ports travel on ships built in America and primarily owned and staffed by Americans. That structure narrows the pool of vessels able to move domestic oil—an effect highlighted as U. S. energy prices rose after the recently launched war in Iran disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. Coverage in the files shows the law can limit shipments from places like Alaska to the mainland, increasing transport costs for American-produced energy.
Arguments for repeal and the industry impact
Critics in the reviewed material frame the jones act as protectionist and failing to meet its founding aim. Colin Grabow of the Cato Institute wrote that the logic behind the law was to spur a robust U. S. shipbuilding sector, yet U. S. shipyards have not prospered as intended: “rather than prospering, U. S. shipyards have been in a decline for decades, ” Grabow wrote. Independent Institute commentary from Caleb Petitt notes that “the U. S. only had 92 Jones Act-compliant ships in 2024, ” while there were 185 U. S. -flagged ships that year; foreign-built vessels flagged in the United States cannot carry cargo between American ports because they were not built domestically. The Grassroot Institute of Hawaii added that “Oil tankers make up 55 of the 92 ships in the Jones Act fleet, ” and that the law has contributed to higher costs for islands like Hawaii, where importing from the mainland is often prohibitive.
Immediate reactions and precedent for waiver
Responses in the material include historical examples of executive waivers: then-President Joe Biden granted a temporary waiver after Hurricane Fiona in 2022 to allow a tanker carrying diesel to dock in Puerto Rico, and President Donald Trump waived the law for Puerto Rico in 2017 for ten days after Hurricane Maria. Those precedents are cited as evidence that presidents can and have suspended enforcement in crisis situations. Voices calling for repeal argue that waivers are stopgaps while the law itself continues to raise shipping costs and constrain options for moving domestic energy.
What comes next
Expect two parallel tracks in the immediate weeks: a short-term executive decision on a waiver to relieve oil transport bottlenecks, and sustained calls for legislative reform or repeal of the jones act. Coverage notes pending congressional proposals that would reform the law; advocates argue that only statutory change would remove the structural limits on ship availability and costs. Policymakers will face pressure from energy market volatility tied to the Strait of Hormuz disruptions and from the longstanding debate over whether the 1920 law still serves the security and industrial goals it was created to meet.
The jones act sits at the center of a debate that melds national security, industrial policy and immediate consumer costs, and the coming days are likely to show whether temporary waivers will be used or whether momentum grows for permanent repeal.
