Overview
- The White House put a 60-day pause on the Jones Act, letting foreign-flagged tankers haul oil, fuel and LNG between U.S. ports.
- Academic work cited by Econofact finds average gasoline savings of about 1 to 2 cents per gallon on the East Coast, with bigger drops in the Southeast and little change in New England.
- Some coverage projects bigger cuts in select markets, but most analysts say any relief will be modest and uneven because shipping is a small share of pump prices.
- Maritime groups and a Washington Examiner op-ed argue the waiver could displace U.S. crews, weaken shipyards and conflict with the administration’s new maritime growth plans.
- The law requires U.S.-built, U.S.-owned and U.S.-crewed ships for domestic routes, and the eligible fleet has shrunk over decades, which helps explain higher costs and past emergency waivers after major hurricanes.