President Donald Trump is meeting refining executives Tuesday over gas prices, and both sides are already trading blame. The White House says refiners are gouging drivers; refiners say they’re already running near capacity. Both sides are skipping over something worth noting — a Jones Act waiver is already in effect, and pump prices would likely be even higher without it.

Cato Institute’s interactive Jones Act Waiver Tracker follows reported voyages completed under the 2026 waiver for energy and fertilizer shipments. As of the most recently published count, more than 230 voyages have moved over 62 million barrels of crude oil, fuel, and other covered products between U.S. ports since the waiver took effect on March 17 — activity that would not have been possible under the law’s normal shipping restrictions.

The surge shows that demand for coastwise shipping capacity was going unmet before foreign-flagged vessels were permitted to help meet it. It also raises an important policy question: why restore a restriction that is adding costs and reducing flexibility in American fuel markets?

Colin Grabow, Cato’s Associate Director of the Stiefel Center for Trade Policy and author of the tracker, is available to discuss what the waiver data reveals about supply bottlenecks — and why reforming the Jones Act, rather than political pressure on refiners, would let markets move fuel to where it’s needed.

If you’d like to speak with Colin, please contact Madison: mmiller@​cato.​org.