Researchers compared the island’s American fuel imports with those of the Dominican Republic as well as the increase in imports since the waiver and concluded that Jones Act hinders Puerto Rico’s access to cheaper energy.
Researchers at the conservative think tank Cato Institute are reaffirming their long-standing premise about how the Jones Act affects Puerto Rico’s access to the U.S. fuel markets with data that indicates that Puerto Rico has been overpaying for around a dozen energy sources, including liquified natural gas, fuel oil, gasoline and propane.
Associate Director at the Cato Institute’s Herbert A. Stiefel Center for Trade Policy Studies, Colin Grabow, explained in an article published on Cato’s website that the researchers compared how much Puerto Rico imported fuel from the US with how much the Dominican Republic imported fuel from the U.S.. Additionally, the researchers looked at how much U.S. imports have increased since Puerto Rico received a Jones-Act waiver back in March, which it’s set to expire this August 16.
“The logical conclusion, based on sourcing decisions by market participants, was that Puerto Rico was almost certainly overpaying for energy it could have bought more cheaply from the country it’s part of—if not for the Jones Act.Four years on, that inference should now be regarded as overwhelmingly confirmed,” Grabow, who specializes in trade protectionism, wrote.
The Jones Act, established in 1920, dictates that any goods shipped between domestic ports in the U.S. need to be transported in ships made and operated in the U.S.. In a previous article, Grabow explained that there were no “Jones-compliant” cargo ships that could transport fuel like LNG to Puerto Rico, limiting the island’s access to the U.S. fuel markets.
Grabow noted that since 2019 the Dominican Republic’s consumption of U.S. produced LNG dramatically grew, while Puerto Rico’s LNG imports from the U.S. decreased. Additionally, the researchers looked at what impact the Jones Act waiver had on the island’s fuel imports.
On March 16, 2026, the Department of Homeland Security issued a waiver of the Jones Act as a request from the Department of Defense in response to the fuel and trade disruptions due to the war with Iran. The original waiver was only for 60 days, but was later extended until August 16, 2026.
Using data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the U.S. Department of Maritime Transportation, and the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, the researchers concluded that after the waiver Puerto Rico saw an 134 percent increase in our fuel imports from the U.S. when compared to the annualized baseline.
“If there was any doubt about Puerto Rico’s appetite for American fuel—presumably because it offers a cost-effective solution to the island’s energy needs—it should now be gone. The island’s actions under the Jones Act waiver are direct evidence of its revealed preference for American fuel,” Garbow argued in the piece.
