The White House said the Trump administration is considering lifting restrictions on foreign-owned and crewed ships transporting goods between ports in the United States in an effort to boost domestic oil refining and put the brakes on skyrocketing fuel costs.
"In the interest of national defense, the White House is considering waiving the Jones Act for a limited period of time to ensure vital energy products and agricultural necessities are flowing freely to U.S. ports," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a Thursday morning statement emailed to media outlets.
"This action has not been finalized.”
The administration could issue 30-day waivers as soon as Thursday in line with the "Jones Act" provision of the Merchant Marine Act of 1920.
That act requires cargo being transported in domestic waters between U.S. ports “be shipped solely aboard vessels that are U.S.-built, U.S.-citizen owned, and registered in the United States, which means crewed by Americans,” according to the U.S Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration.
The waivers would allow foreign tankers to assist U.S.-flagged tankers in shipping domestically produced crude oil to refineries within the United States, mitigating rising energy prices caused by shipping disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz caused by the Iran war.
This temporary suspension seeks to ease transportation costs and increase supply, following similar actions for natural disasters.
A White House official told The Epoch Times that the temporary waivers would “not impact American shipbuilding” initiatives President Donald Trump outlined in his April 2025 "Restoring America’s Maritime Dominance" executive order.
As Operation Epic Fury nears its third week, the standoff in the Hormuz Strait—where 20 percent of the world’s oil is exported from the Persian Gulf—has reduced tanker traffic to less than 10 percent of its normal volume of up to 90 ships a day.
While the United States imports little crude oil from the Persian Gulf, the world's petroleum is traded on a global market often described as a bathtub with many spigots but one drain.
Crude oil was trading at $72.48 a barrel on Feb. 27 but has ballooned in price since the United States and Israel launched Operation Epic Fury on Feb. 28.
Brent crude was trading at $99.58 a barrel as of 2 p.m. (EST) on March 12, with analysts uniformly expecting it to continue rising until Hormuz Strait traffic resumes.
As of noon ET on Thursday, the American Automobile Association reported the average nationwide U.S. price for a gallon of gasoline was $3.60, up from $3.25 on March 5, $2.94 on Feb. 12, and $3.08 in March 2025.