President Donald Trump has extended the Jones Act waiver for 90 days starting August 17, 2026, to ease energy supply strains caused by the war with Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Under pressure from domestic shipbuilders, the administration narrowed the waiver to cover only specific commodities like oil and fertilizer, requiring case-by-case voyage approvals by the Pentagon and the Maritime Administration. The extension comes as average U.S. gas prices hit $4.01 per gallon and strategic reserves fall to their lowest levels since 1983.
Jones Act waiver extension
- ▪President Donald Trump on August 10, 2026 extended the Jones Act waiver for an additional 90 days to allow foreign-flagged ships to transport energy and agricultural commodities between U.S. ports.
- ▪The 90-day Jones Act waiver extension is scheduled to take effect on August 17, 2026 and will run through mid-November 2026.
- ▪The August 2026 extension represents the longest suspension of the 1920 Jones Act in the history of the law.
Iran war supply disruption
- ▪The ongoing war with Iran has disrupted global crude supplies and effectively closed shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a primary waterway for oil and natural gas.
- ▪President Donald Trump first waived the Jones Act on March 17, 2026, less than three weeks after the United States and Israel launched joint military operations against Iran.
- ▪The American Farm Bureau Federation sent a letter to President Donald Trump on March 9, 2026, urging a waiver of the Jones Act to prevent fertilizer price spikes for farmers.
Voyage-by-voyage approval requirements
- ▪The August 2026 Jones Act waiver requires the Pentagon to consult with the U.S. Maritime Administration to approve exemptions on a case-by-case, voyage-by-voyage basis.
- ▪U.S. Maritime Administration data shows that shippers have invoked the Jones Act waivers for 210 completed voyages, moving nearly 55 million barrels of cargo since March 2026.
- ▪The August 2026 Jones Act waiver is narrowed to apply only to specific commodities, including gasoline, diesel, crude oil, petrochemicals, natural gas, fertilizer, and soybean oil.
Domestic shipbuilder opposition
- ▪U.S. shipbuilders, domestic maritime industry groups, and congressional allies pressured the Trump administration to narrow the waiver, arguing that blanket exemptions undermine domestic shipping.
- ▪The American Maritime Partnership expressed disappointment over the waiver's extension but stated that a case-by-case review process is preferable to previous blanket exemptions.
Fuel price pressures
- ▪A 2022 JPMorgan analysis projected that waiving the Jones Act would have a modest impact on fuel prices, saving East Coast drivers approximately 10 cents per gallon.
- ▪The average U.S. gasoline price stood at $4.01 per gallon on August 10, 2026, which is approximately 87 cents higher than the average price at the same time in 2025.
- ▪U.S. strategic petroleum reserves have fallen to their lowest levels since 1983, dropping below 300 million barrels amid the ongoing conflict with Iran.
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