U.S. President Donald Trump extended for another 90 days the waiver of the Jones Act, which allows transportation between U.S. ports only on U.S.-flagged ships. With international crude prices and U.S. gasoline prices rising amid the protracted war with Iran, the move is seen as an effort to reduce fuel costs ahead of the midterm elections in Nov.
White House Spokesperson Taylor Rogers said on X on the 10th (local time) that President Trump decided to extend for 90 days the Jones Act waiver that was set to expire on the 16th.
On Mar. 18, after the Iran war began, President Trump first waived application of the Jones Act for 60 days, then extended it another 90 days at the end of April. With this additional three months, the waiver period will total eight months, running past the November midterms. It is the first time the Jones Act has not been applied so broadly for such a long period.
Rising fuel prices are behind the extension. As the war with Iran drags on, international oil prices have climbed and supplies of essential fuels in the United States have been disrupted, pushing up gasoline prices. That is creating political pressure on the Trump administration ahead of the midterms.
Rogers said the Jones Act waivers so far have "dramatically increased domestic shipments of essential products such as gasoline, diesel and jet fuel," explaining the rationale for the additional extension.
However, the measure does not apply uniformly to all foreign vessels. If the Department of Defense determines that using U.S. ships is difficult, the Jones Act will be waived for individual ships.
Eligible cargo is also limited to gasoline, jet fuel, crude oil, naphtha, liquefied natural gas (LNG), soybean oil and fertilizers.
These limits appear aimed at addressing domestic backlash over the Jones Act waiver. The U.S. shipping and shipbuilding industries, related workers and local politicians who count them as voters have argued the waiver does more harm than good and have called for it to end.
Republican lawmakers, including House Speaker Mike Johnson and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, also sent a letter to President Trump last month urging him not to extend the Jones Act waiver further. Louisiana, home to Johnson's and Scalise's districts, is a center of the U.S. shipping industry.
Enacted in 1920 to strengthen U.S. maritime capacity after World War I, the Jones Act has remained in place for more than a century. Successive U.S. presidents have granted short-term, voyage-specific waivers when natural disasters or pipeline shutdowns occurred.
Bloomberg, citing administration documents, reported that since the waiver took effect, foreign vessels have transported cargo between U.S. coastal ports in more than 230 instances.