The Jones Act, dating from the 1920s, prohibits cargo transport between American ports unless the vessel is American-built, owned, captained, and crewed; loosening these restrictions to allow 50% foreign ownership would attract Japanese capital to upgrade American waterway infrastructure, and for approximately $300 billion (equivalent to one year of interstate highway spending), the US could replace every piece of waterway infrastructure and triple goods flow, dropping total transport costs by half.
normativepending
Speaker
Peter ZeihanEvidence Quote
“Jones Act... 1920s... American built, owned captain and crew... loosen... 50%... Japanese money... $300 billion... one year of spending on interstate highway system... replace every piece of physical infrastructure... waterway network... drop... transport costs by half... 20 fold increase in traffic flows”
Source
Peter Zeihan: Mapping the Collapse of Globalization— Commonwealth Club World Affairs of CaliforniaCreated: 8/12/2026, 10:34:46 PM
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