Trump extends Jones Act waiver for another 90 days: official

President Trump has approved a 90-day Jones Act waiver extension for domestic shipping, a White House official said, preserving freight relief.

The decision would maintain access to foreign-flagged vessels for energy companies and commodity traders moving goods domestically. It also keeps in place a policy opposed by shipbuilders, who argue that exemptions weaken protections for American maritime capacity.

The extension is scheduled to begin Monday at midnight, New York time, immediately after the existing waiver ends, the official said. The official spoke anonymously ahead of a public announcement and described the decision two days before the current authorization was due to expire.

Vessel reviews remain in place

The administration is retaining the waiver’s existing limits rather than broadening eligibility, the official said. Those limits include individual assessments of vessel availability, a requirement introduced when Trump restricted the exemption in August.

The Jones Act generally reserves domestic port-to-port freight for vessels with American ownership, registration and operation. The extension therefore continues an exception to longstanding shipping rules; it does not replace those requirements permanently or remove the review process.

The administration has presented the relief as a way to reduce fuel costs during the war in Iran. Oil and chemical companies say access to foreign vessels has made domestic deliveries less expensive and more efficient, helping them manage disruptions associated with that conflict and damage to Russian refineries.

California receives the largest share

Foreign vessels have completed 338 voyages under the exemptions since March, when Trump initially suspended the restrictions, according to the Cato Institute’s analysis of government records. The shipments included crude moving from Texas to Pennsylvania, alongside deliveries of propane bound for Puerto Rico.

California received more shipments than any other destination, the White House official said. The official put product deliveries to the state at 23 million barrels, against eight million barrels over the corresponding period a year earlier.

Those figures document the scale and destinations of shipments described by the administration and the institute. They do not establish how much consumers saved: the supplied material provides no measured reduction in gasoline or diesel prices attributable to the waiver.

Shipbuilders contest continued foreign access

Shipbuilders and congressional supporters had pressed the administration to let the exemption expire. They argue that maintaining domestic shipping protections supports the country’s ability to build vessels, putting their position at odds with cargo owners seeking cheaper transport.

For oil and chemical businesses, the immediate issue is continued access to shipping capacity under the existing review rules. For shipbuilders, the dispute concerns whether repeated temporary exemptions erode the protection intended to sustain their industry.

If the waiver continues to deliver the transport savings claimed by cargo owners, another 90 days would extend that benefit to eligible domestic shipments. Whether those savings reach fuel buyers remains unresolved, as does the extent to which the relief offsets the international supply disruptions cited by industry.

The next operational milestone is Monday’s scheduled handover between authorizations. The official said there would be no interruption, while the availability reviews introduced in August would continue to determine access to the relief.