A week has passed since President Donald Trump announced he was waiving the Jones Act for 60 days to ease the pressure on shipments of oil and fertilizer across the globe.
The strain is a result of the war in Iran and the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. The Grassroot Institute of Hawaiʻi has long been a critic of the maritime law that bars foreign ships from transporting cargo between two U.S. ports.
To learn more, HPR spoke with Grassroot Institute of Hawaiʻi President and CEO Keliʻi Akina about this latest development.
Interview Highlights
On the immediate effects of the Jones Act waiver
AKINA: Typically, we can't get anything that is not shipped on a Jones Act ship. So an amazing thing started to happen once the waiver hit. Just one day after the waiver took effect, it was reported that the Norden-owned medium-range tanker was arranged to take fuel from New York to Hawaiʻi, then another ship was chartered to take jet fuel from Texas to Hawaiʻi. That's happening because the waiver is in place. Without the waiver, we wouldn't be getting these shipments coming in.
On the waiver attracting more economic activity
AKINA: What probably happened is, as soon as the waivers were issued, those who practice arbitrage saw what the global pricing would be and found that this would be an economic opportunity for them, and that's the way the market works. So the interesting thing about this is, my guess is that these shipments were not contrived. They weren't called for by the people of Hawaiʻi. They're what's happening naturally. When the Jones Act is lifted in a market that is free of the Jones Act's restrictions, we may have more economic activity, which will benefit Hawaiʻi in terms of the supplies we receive, and the lower costs we'll receive as well. It would be something if Hawaiʻi became a much more attractive market to those who are transporting oil and other commodities.
On the larger impact of the Jones Act waiver
AKINA: It's not just Hawaiʻi. It would be the world and the United States, of course, that would benefit from this freeing up of a market mechanism. And the point is this: Studies in the past have been theoretical when it comes to what could happen if we were free of the Jones Act. Now for the next 60 days, we can actually see in real time what happens without the Jones Act, and that'll be a very valuable study for people simply to watch and learn from.
This story aired on The Conversation on March 25, 2026. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. Jinwook Lee adapted this story for the web.
