"President Donald Trump pledged he wouldn’t waive requirements that American vessels be used to transport natural gas among U.S. ports, Republicans defending the mandates said after a White House meeting on the issue Wednesday.

The lawmakers from Alaska and the shipbuilding Gulf Coast states of Mississippi and Louisiana said Trump ruled out relaxing mandates under the Jones Act in order to facilitate shipments of liquefied natural gas to Massachusetts and Puerto Rico.

“He’s not going to make any changes to the Jones Act,” said Senator John Kennedy, a Republican from Louisiana. “The president’s not one to beat around the bush. He was pretty categorical.”

The pledge marks a rapid reversal in White House thinking -- and a victory for U.S. shipbuilding interests and their allies on Capitol Hill. The president was said to be leaning in favor of some kind of waiver after an Oval Office meeting on the issue last week."

Jennifer A Dlouhy and Ari Natter report for Bloomberg May 1, 2019. [2]