Permanent Repeal of the Jones Act Would Be a Winning Response to COVID-19

From The Daily Signal.com (April 7):

A waiver of the century-old Merchant Marine Act, also known as the Jones Act, was said to be on the table at Friday’s White House meeting between President Donald Trump and U.S. oil producers.

If legislation was passed to make such a waiver permanent, applying it to all shipments, not just oil, that would be a long overdue shot in the arm to the U.S. economy and relieve some of the financial strain households and businesses now face because of the coronavirus pandemic.

A permanent repeal of the Jones Act would provide relief especially to the people of Puerto Rico who have long had added costs tacked onto the prices they pay for food, energy, staples, and other goods shipped from the U.S. mainland. In fact, shipping imports from U.S. ports cost better than 150% more than shipping imports from non-U.S. ports to Puerto Rico.

The Jones Act long has hindered maritime trade between ports within the United States and U.S. territories because its requirements that any shipments of goods between such ports must be done by ships that are U.S.-built, U.S.-flagged, and at least 75% U.S.-crewed make domestically connected shipments prohibitively expensive in comparison to international shipments.

Jones Act-compliant ships are expensive to build and operate, which adds to the price of the goods transported on them when those goods are brought to market.

Americans pay higher prices because goods that otherwise would be transported between states most cost-effectively by sea arrive instead by road or by rail, or by ship from foreign ports. [read more]

Sounds like a good idea to me.