US gasoline futures fell below $3.10 per gallon on Wednesday after a strategic 60‑day waiver of the Jones Act and the release of 172 million barrels from reserves helped offset mounting supply risks from the Middle East. The pullback came after President Trump temporarily suspended the 1920 maritime law, allowing foreign-flagged tankers to transport fuel, natural gas, and fertilizer between US ports in an effort to stabilize domestic markets.
Analysts say the waiver will ease transportation bottlenecks but caution that US refineries still face a structural mismatch: they are configured to process heavier Middle Eastern crude, supplies of which have been disrupted by the conflict. Even so, despite the seasonal shift to more costly summer-grade gasoline and a 6.16 million-barrel build in crude inventories, the administration’s aggressive moves to secure critical supply chains have largely blunted the immediate market impact of Tehran’s retaliatory threats.
