The Trump administration may extend a shipping waiver to help with fuel prices, which is an impressively large way to go looking for loose change.

Four industry sources told Reuters that another Jones Act waiver was expected. A White House official said no decision had been made. So the relief is currently at the stage where the ships might be ready but the announcement is still circling the harbor.

The law generally reserves cargo trips between American ports for ships built here, owned by U.S. companies and crewed by Americans. The waiver lets some foreign vessels help move fuel and other goods. The existing extension runs through November 15. This is an exemption from the law, not the law falling overboard.

More shipping flexibility can ease bottlenecks. Analysts and industry experts cited by Reuters expect the likely gasoline saving to be pennies per gallon. Pennies. Not nothing, especially across many gallons, but a curious scale mismatch for a president whose political presentation tends to require its own airspace. Imagine a relief flotilla arriving while the driver checks under the seat to see whether he can double its contribution.

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Two of Reuters’ sources said individual voyages would need review. August’s terms had already narrowed the earlier blanket approach; administration figures put waivers at about 48 under those terms, compared with roughly 300 under the March and May exemptions. The government wants the fuel to move more freely, but freedom still has to identify which boat it is on.

Meanwhile, AAA’s Thursday averages in the report were $3.91 for gasoline and $6.10 for diesel, both well above their prewar levels. Shipping flexibility addresses one part of that burden. It cannot make an expensive war disappear by changing the flag on the delivery vehicle.

There may be a useful, modest saving here. That is an argument for describing it usefully and modestly, two settings American political theater generally keeps behind a locked panel.

If the waiver gets extended, perhaps announce it at an ordinary podium.

Save the aircraft carrier for a nickel.