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Events • September 16, 2025 

# Assessing the Jones Act: Perspectives from the Noncontiguous States and Territories 

Noncontiguous states and territories are disproportionally harmed by the Jones Act’s restrictions on shipping competition. Rooted in 18th-century protectionism, the law significantly increases the cost of water transportation for these shipping-dependent parts of the country when trading with each other and the US mainland. Beyond these economic costs, the Jones Act has also proven to be ineffective in meeting the country’s national security needs amidst a collapse in shipbuilding, a declining fleet, and a shortage of mariners. There is a growing and bipartisan recognition among policymakers that an overhaul of US maritime policy is sorely needed to meet the country’s economic and national security needs.

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This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/). 

##### Featuring 

![Rep. Ed Case (D‑HI) - cropped](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2025-07/Rep-Ed-Case_cropped.jpg?itok=gopserLg) 

##### Rep. Ed Case (D‑HI) 

Representative for the 1st District of Hawaii

![Rep. James Moylan (R-GU)](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2025-07/Rep-James-Moylan-cropped.jpg?itok=ifyPjyqo) 

##### Rep. James Moylan (R‑GU) 

Representative for Guam

[![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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