The ostensible purpose of the Jones Act, enacted more than a century ago, was to protect and promote the U.S. shipping industry. It mandates that cargo transported between two American ports must be carried on ships that are American-made, American-owned and American-staffed.

But, as this episode of What’s Ahead explains, the law has ended up hurting our national security by severely harming American shipbuilding, making us more dependent on imported energy, damaging our ports and waterways and inflicting unnecessary pain on victims of natural disasters.