Reports that US President Trump is planning to extend a waiver of the Jones Act covering domestic shipping has been met with strong objections from American maritime industries.

The Trump Administration issued a 60-day waiver to the Jones Act on 17 March and reports it is mulling extending the waiver to 90 days, although there has been no official word from the Whitehouse. The Jones Act is effectively a cabotage governing the use of US-owned, flagged, and crewed vessels on domestic shipping trades.

The Jones Act waiver is designed to reduce the price of gasoline in the US which have hit over $4.00 per gallon average since the start of the war with Iran which started nearly eight weeks ago and shows little sign of resolution despite the current ceasefire.

The US maritime and shipbuilding industries condemned the potential extension of the Jones Act waiver which they said did nothing to help reduce gasoline prices in the US.

“At a time of global instability, the administration should be strengthening, not weakening, the American maritime, shipbuilding and maritime supplier base that is the foundation of our national security. Waivers have unequivocally proven they do nothing to reduce gas prices for Americans,” Matt Paxton, President of the Shipbuilders Council of America

“What waivers actually do is have a chilling effect on investments in commercial shipbuilding markets and create wide open ports and coastlines for any foreign ship or crew to call and gauge hardworking Americans while foreign energy companies and shippers get rich. These actions clearly demonstrate that this policy is ‘America last’.”

“An extension of the current historically long and broad Jones Act waiver would blow a hole in the Trump agenda to restore American maritime dominance. Waiving the Jones Act exports American jobs to foreign carriers, lets them skirt US laws, and throws open our maritime borders,” said Jennifer Carpenter, President of the American Maritime Partnership. “Any extension would be an affront to hundreds of thousands of hardworking Americans who put this country – not foreign powers – first.”
The criteria for Jones Act eligibility is that vessels be built in US yards, crewed by US mariners, and owned by US entities. Major trades for deepsea Jones Act vessels include movements of refined products from the US Gulf to destinations along the East Coast, ranging from Florida up to the Northeastern region.