WASHINGTON, March 12 (Reuters) – US President Donald Trump’s administration is considering temporarily suspending requirements of the century-old shipping law known as the Jones Act to ensure that energy and agricultural shipments can move freely between US ports, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Thursday.
The measure would be an attempt to combat supply disruptions related to the US and Israeli war with Iran.
“In the interest of national defense, the White House is considering suspending the Jones Act for a limited period of time to ensure that vital energy products and essential agricultural products flow freely to U.S. ports,” Leavitt said in a statement.
‘This action has not yet been completed,’ he added.
The announcement of a 30-day exemption could be made as early as Thursday, two sources familiar with the initiative told Reuters, and would be aimed at combating rising fuel prices and other disruptions since the start of the war.
High gasoline prices carry significant political risks for Trump and his Republican counterparts, who have long argued that their energy policies would keep the fuel affordable for American consumers.
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A sustained increase in pump prices could undermine that message and fuel criticism from Democrats that the government has failed to protect families from higher costs, especially as voters remain sensitive to inflation ahead of November’s midterm elections.
National average retail prices for gasoline in the US reached US$3.60 a gallon this Thursday, for the first time since May 2024, while diesel prices reached US$4.89 a gallon, the highest since December 2022, according to data from drivers’ association AAA.
Trump has been weighing ideas for taming energy prices, but analysts and energy experts say he has few meaningful options as long as Iran continues to attack oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway off Iran’s coast through which about a fifth of the world’s oil normally flows.
Under the Jones Act, goods transported between U.S. ports must be carried by vessels built and flagged in the United States and, for the most part, owned by the United States. This requirement drastically limits the number of tankers available for domestic shipments.
The temporary exemption from the rule would allow foreign ships to transport fuel between U.S. ports, which could reduce transportation costs and speed up deliveries.
The Jones Act exemption won’t have a big impact on gasoline prices, but it could help slow increases in import-dependent regions like the West Coast and Northeast, according to Patrick De Haan, an analyst at GasBuddy, a fuel price tracking company.
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(Reporting by Jarrett Renshaw; Additional reporting by Shariq Khan)
