Foreign ships gain U.S. trade access under 'job protection' bill
S. 2535 — Protecting Jobs in American Ports Act · Filed by Mike Lee (R-UT) · Introduced Jul 30, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill allows foreign-built passenger vessels to obtain U.S. coastwise endorsement—a permit that lets ships carry cargo and passengers between U.S. ports—by adding a new category of eligible vessels. Currently, U.S. law restricts coastwise trade to vessels built in America. The bill carves out an exception for passenger vessels, enabling foreign-built ships to operate in domestic U.S. waters if they transport passengers between U.S. ports (including via foreign ports). This reverses a century-old protectionist rule.
Why we flagged it
The bill's operative mechanism is a carve-out from the Jones Act's domestic-build requirement for a specific vessel class. It is functionally deregulation—removal of a trade barrier—but the title 'Protecting Jobs in American Ports Act' inverts the actual effect: the bill reduces protections for domestic maritime jobs by opening the market to foreign-built competitors.
What the text implies
- The bill's title claims to protect jobs in American ports, but the operative effect is to reduce protections for domestic shipbuilders and maritime labor by allowing foreign-built vessels into the U.S. coastwise trade. The framing is inverted relative to the mechanism.
- Repealing § 12121 removes a conforming provision; the full scope of that repeal's effect depends on what § 12121 itself says, which is not quoted in this bill. The amendment is complete as drafted, but the civic consequence turns on the cited statute.
The full analysis lists 3 implications of this text.
Who stands to gain
foreign shipbuilders; foreign-flag cruise and ferry operators; international maritime companies