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Trump promises biggest naval expansion since Cold War — with an enormous price tag
Valliant News – Robert Smith – 14 November 2019
“The president has made it evident that American jobs and national security are two significant priorities for his administration,” Matthew Paxton, president of the Shipbuilders Council of America, told McClatchy in a statement after Trump’s speech on Thursday, expressing hope for the “hundreds of thousands of good-paying American jobs” that would boost the shipyard industry.
Jones Act debate continues after 100 years
WorkBoat – Dale DuPont – 12 November 2019
“People who understand the law, understand its value,” said Matt Paxton, president of the Shipbuilders Council of America (SCA), and a board member of the American Maritime Partnership (AMP), the industry’s Jones Act advocacy group. “If you didn’t have the Jones Act, you’d have to invent it — to police our waterways, to police our coastline.”
Rust Buckets: How the Jones Act Undermines U.S. Shipbuilding and National Security
Cato – Colin Grabow – 12 November 2019
This paper examines the national security justification. Contrasting the Jones Act's stated objectives with observable results, the law is revealed to be a national security failure. With dwindling numbers of ships, mariners, and shipyards, the U.S. military's ability to leverage these civilian assets during times of war has been deeply compromised. This paper finds this maritime decline to be the predictable result of the Jones Act's misguided protectionism, whose theoretical underpinnings are deeply at odds with both sound economics and modern maritime realities.
Is It Time to Repeal the Jones Act?
The Federalist Society – 12 November 2019
Video: The Merchant Marine Act of 1920, also known as the Jones Act, has governed the United States shipping industry for almost 100 years. Is it a boon or a burden for the US economy? Is it crucial for national security? Dan Ikenson of the CATO Institute and Professor Sal Mercogliano of Campbell University outline the history of the Jones Act and debate its ramifications.
Frontiers of Freedom Policy Alert: The Truth About the Jones Act
Frontiers of Freedom – 12 November 2019
The Jones Act is a necessary and vital part of not just the United States maritime sector, but the economy itself. According to the Transportation Institute, the Jones Act contributes more than $150 billion and more than 650,000 jobs annually to the American economy. These numbers should only increase as we continue to invest in the growing Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) market. Currently, our domestic shipyards have built, and are in the process of building, assets capable of moving and delivering LNG. Conrad Shipyard delivered the first LNG bunker barge built in North America at its Orange, Texas shipyard. VT Halter has recently launched their LNG Articulated Tug & Barge, which should be eligible for work in early 2020. Building Jones Act compliant LNG vessels comes with the added advantage of having the option to custom build them for the exact market they will be serving.
Cato Institute aims another salvo at Jones Act
American Shipper – Chris Dupin – 12 November 2019
The Cato Institute, a Washington-based policy group that has been campaigning against the Jones Act, has released a policy analysis paper claiming the law, widely seen as a keystone of U.S. maritime policy, actually “undermines U.S. shipbuilding and national security.” The Jones Act requires vessels engaged in cabotage — the domestic transport of goods between points in the U.S. — be built in the United States, be crewed and owned by U.S. citizens, and be registered in the U.S.
Jones Act Protects Shipping for Future War
The Wall Street Journal – John D. McCown – 11 November 2019
Regarding your editorial “‘America First’? Kill the Jones Act” (Nov. 4): We would surrender global trade to foreign control if America ended the Jones Act. Foreign subsidies suppress American shipbuilding and distort shipping costs. China, in particular, wants to dominate the 90% of world trade that goes by ship; shipbuilding is a key element of its Belt and Road Initiative. Free enterprise would require policies opposing foreign subsidies, thus encouraging more American vessels, adding competition on price and service for carrying domestic cargo and maintaining the shipbuilding industry vital to U.S. security. But globalists recommend we surrender to unfair competition and let foreign vessels take over purely domestic routes (which the Jones Act limits to U.S. ships) because foreigners’ subsidized rates are cheaper—at least for now.
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