# Trump Extends Jones Act Relief: Cato Scholars Calls Temporary Waiver a “Band-Aid” 

President Trump’s decision to extend Jones Act relief for another 90 days acknowledges the burden the law has long imposed on US security and commerce, as well as the significant benefits the waiver has delivered.

August 10, 2026 • News Releases 

Following President Trump’s extension of Jones Act relief for another 90 days, I wanted to share a statement from Cato’s [**Colin Grabow**](https://zwly9k6z.r.us-east-1.awstrack.me/L0/https:%2F%2Fwww.cato.org%2Fpeople%2Fcolin-grabow/1/0100019fed43100e-c26343ec-4417-4ddd-be4b-ae2f94b7dbc3-000000/dYB4KX3bcvo-OYGhHGSZEFzBAwQ=473) and [**Scott Lincicome**](https://zwly9k6z.r.us-east-1.awstrack.me/L0/https:%2F%2Fwww.cato.org%2Fpeople%2Fscott-lincicome/1/0100019fed43100e-c26343ec-4417-4ddd-be4b-ae2f94b7dbc3-000000/BYW1l5ZyvuMmZ1w7IrRGnOhZ0wM=473) on what the waiver has revealed about the law’s costs:

> President Trump’s decision to extend Jones Act relief for another 90 days acknowledges the burden the law has long imposed on US security and commerce, as well as the significant benefits the waiver has delivered. Since March, the waiver has unleashed domestic commerce that the Jones Act previously prevented, with more than 54 million barrels of energy products moving between US ports on 200-plus voyages (and counting). In most cases, these voyages took place on vessels with no connection to US adversaries like China and supplied American companies with American energy products that would’ve otherwise been imported at a much higher cost (if at all). These waiver shipments have exposed glaring gaps in the Jones Act fleet, including a lack of appropriate vessels to transport products such as bulk propane and asphalt, while delivering nearly 15 million barrels to the West Coast and enabling extraordinary new flows of American propane to Puerto Rico.
> 
> The waiver has given us a trove of real-world data showing some of the commerce that this protectionist law has blocked for more than a century, and this extension will give us even more. But the fact remains that a temporary, product-specific waiver is just a band-aid, and its economic and security benefits would be dwarfed by those resulting from a broad, long-term reform (or even repeal) of the Jones Act’s protectionist provisions. Having now seen the waiver benefits firsthand, Congress should enact durable changes to the Jones Act, which has unnecessarily burdened American businesses and individuals while presiding over the slow and steady degradation of U.S. commercial shipbuilding and the Merchant Marine.

If you would like to speak with Lincicome about the extension, the Jones Act, or related trade and maritime policy issues, I would be happy to connect you. You can also find the Cato Jones Act Waiver Tracker [here](https://zwly9k6z.r.us-east-1.awstrack.me/L0/https:%2F%2Fwww.cato.org%2Fjones-act-waiver-tracker/1/0100019fed43100e-c26343ec-4417-4ddd-be4b-ae2f94b7dbc3-000000/wsjxOxA5B4yxNmugYGGEgB5yNv4=473), which documents the shipments and domestic commerce made possible by the relief.

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