# Letter to the Editor: Turn to American Allies for Shipbuilding Help 

An urgent course correction is needed.

May 29, 2024 • Commentary 

By [Colin Grabow](https://www.cato.org/people/colin-grabow) 

This article appeared in *[The Wall Street Journal](https://www.wsj.com/)* on May 29, 2024. 

The starting point for the kind of U.S. maritime renewal called for by Rep. Mike Waltz and Sen. Mark Kelly (“[China’s Sea Power Leaves U.S. Adrift](https://www.wsj.com/articles/chinas-sea-power-leaves-u-s-adrift-e6a8681f?mod=article_inline),” op-ed, May 23) must be addressing the Jones Act. This protectionist law restricts domestic waterborne transportation to vessels built and registered in the U.S.

Theoretically meant to assure a capable fleet and robust maritime industrial base, the Jones Act has instead helped produce a shipbuilding industry whose output trails the likes of Singapore and Croatia, and a fleet of aging ships reliant on Chinese state-owned shipyards for their considerable maintenance needs. Shielding shipyards from foreign competition and forcing Americans to pay vastly inflated prices for vessels hasn’t proved conducive to either a large, modern fleet or competitive shipbuilding.

To bring a measure of sanity to this law, vessels constructed in allied shipyards should be exempted from the Jones Act’s U.S.-built requirement. Access to less costly vessels would promote the U.S. merchant fleet’s expansion and modernization and generate more repair and maintenance opportunities for U.S. shipyards.

Vague calls for action and tepid proposals that leave sacred cows such as the Jones Act untouched will not suffice. An urgent course correction is needed.

##### About the Author 

[![Colin Grabow](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2021-01/Colin%20Grabow.jpg?itok=pNkGPWw4)](/people/colin-grabow) 

##### [Colin Grabow](/people/colin-grabow)

Associate Director, Herbert A. Stiefel Center for Trade Policy Studies

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](https://x.com/cpgrabow)