You could have heard of the Jones Act earlier than — the G.W. Bush, Obama, Trump, and Biden administrations have all briefly waived it sooner or later to hurry up shipments throughout high-profile, particular circumstances (like hurricanes Katrina, Sandy, and Harvey, respectively). Primarily, it mandates that items shipped between US ports (as in by water) should be transported on US-built and US-owned ships which can be crewed by US residents or everlasting residents.

When the act is briefly waived, international ships are allowed to hold items to Puerto Rico from US ports. As an illustration, the Biden administration briefly waived the Jones Act to permit non-US ships to move gasoline to Puerto Rico when the island confronted a diesel scarcity after Hurricane Fiona, which precipitated widespread energy outages and flooding.

FYI, this Jones Act shouldn’t be confused with the Jones-Shafroth Act of 1917 (additionally typically known as the Jones Act for brief), which grants US citizenship to anybody born in Puerto Rico.