Expires on August 16! White House mulls extending Jones Act waiver to tackle high U.S. gasoline prices

White House Considers Extending Waiver, Possibly Narrowing Scope

According to media reports, the White House plans to extend the Jones Act waiver in the coming days, which is one of the few policy tools currently available to the U.S. government to stabilize gasoline prices.

The Jones Act requires that cargo transported between U.S. ports must be carried on vessels that are U.S.-built, U.S.-flagged, and owned by U.S. companies. This provision directly restricts the supply of available domestic oil tankers. Waiving the Act can enhance fuel transportation flexibility, alleviate domestic bottlenecks, and thereby help lower gasoline prices.

The market had widely expected the government to announce an extension plan by the end of July. Sources reveal that White House officials are still in consultations with representatives from the shipping industry and members of Congress to explore whether to narrow the scope of the waiver while maintaining transportation flexibility for critical fuel supplies. The current waiver is set to expire on August 16 and marks the longest temporary waiver in the Act's history. Official U.S. statistics show that in the four and a half months leading up to the end of July, this waiver has been utilized nearly 200 times.

High Oil Prices and Election Pressure: Trump Publicly Denounces Oil Giants' Excessive Profits

The current average price of gasoline in the U.S. has surpassed $4 per gallon. With the midterm elections approaching in November, the Trump administration urgently needs various policy tools to lower domestic fuel costs, having previously introduced measures such as boosting crude oil production and relaxing industry regulations.

Just this Monday, Trump publicly stated that due to the impact of the Iran conflict driving up international crude oil prices, ExxonMobil and Chevron have earned excessive profits, and he called on the two oil giants to return some of these earnings to the American public.

Polls simultaneously show that Trump's public approval rating has slipped to 35%. For the first time in a decade, Americans believe the Democrats are better at handling domestic economic issues than the Republicans. High oil prices have become a livelihood pressure that the government urgently needs to resolve.

Industry Analysis: Multiple Plans to Lower Oil Prices Face Practical Obstacles

Bob McNally, President of energy consulting firm Rapidan Energy Group, analyzes that theoretically, the most effective path for the U.S. President to lower oil prices is to push Saudi Arabia to increase crude oil output. However, with the Strait of Hormuz being disrupted by the Iran conflict and oil exports restricted, this option is difficult to implement.

Other alternative policy options, including imposing windfall profit taxes on oil, gasoline price controls, and initiating legal actions against oil companies, either face significant political resistance or come with obvious economic side effects, making it hard to substantially lower oil prices.

In the view of experts, even if the Jones Act waiver is extended, it will only slightly improve tanker capacity and have a limited effect on reducing terminal gasoline prices, with a projected decrease of only a few cents per gallon.

White House Statement: Relevant Assessments Still Underway, Awaiting Official Announcement

A White House official stated that the government is continuing to assess the actual effectiveness of the waiver policy, and all related consultations have not yet concluded. Any subsequent adjustments will be officially announced through the President or government channels.