Speaking of high gas prices, one easy way to lower them would be to suspend the outdated and protectionist Jones Act. The good news is Reuters reports Trump is considering “lifting requirements under the Jones Act.” That can’t happen soon enough.

The Jones Act is a 106 year-old maritime law that requires any ship traveling between two U.S. points to be U.S. manufactured, owned, and crewed. It has failed in its purported goal of propping up the U.S. Merchant Marine. There are only 92 Jones Act-compliant ships today, of which only 55 are tankers. Even U.S. flagged ships can’t carry cargo between American ports if they weren’t also built in the U.S.

So oil pumped in, say, Alaska can only be transported to the U.S. mainland by a very small number of vessels, making shipping costs several times more expensive than rates in the competitive international market. The Jones Act is particularly hurtful to Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico, which rely on ocean-going vessels for many necessities. President Trump recognized that during his first term in 2017, when he waived the Jones Act because it was hindering disaster relief efforts after Hurricane Maria.

More than 40% of California’s gasoline imports come from the Bahamas, but they really originate in U.S. refineries, are then shipped to the Bahamas before being transported to California. Just one more reason for the high gas prices in the Golden State.

Waive this foolish law now, and then repeal the whole kit and caboodle as soon as Congress can get its act together.