The mechanism. The Jones Act of 1920 requires that cargo moving between two U.S. points travel on vessels that are U.S.-built, U.S.-flagged, U.S.-crewed, and U.S.-owned. It has survived roughly a century of repeal bills, GAO cost studies, Cato Institute campaigns, and a 2026 Hawaii lawsuit — all dismissed or defeated. Even when Washington reached for the law's own escape hatch this year, it proved the point: on March 17, 2026, DHS granted a Department of Defense-requested waiver covering roughly 659 energy and fertilizer commodity categories, driven by Iran-conflict supply disruptions. It expired May 17 and was extended 90 more days — but it covered fuel cargoes, not container trade, and left the domestic cabotage regime for Hawaii, Alaska, Guam, and Puerto Rico fully intact. Congress didn't touch the core law. It never does. That's the trade: a bipartisan coalition of maritime unions, U.S. shipyards, and national-security hawks has held for a century, and the companies sitting inside the moat collect toll regardless of who's in the White House.