Window on Washington: Q4-2025

This article originally appeared in the Fourth Quarter 2025 Benedict’s Maritime Bulletin. Reprinted with permission. Any opinions in this article are not those of Winston & Strawn or its clients. The opinions in this article are the author’s opinions only.

The Trump administration’s “America First” agenda continues to color all manner of its actions in maritime Washington. Previous Window on Washington columns this year have covered the President’s executive order Restoring America’s Maritime Dominance and related U.S. Trade Representative actions. Not to be left out of the fray, on National Maritime Day, the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) invoked long-dormant authorities to open an “Investigation into Flags of Convenience and Unfavorable Conditions Created by Certain Flagging Practices.”

According to the FMC’s order initiating the investigation, it is looking into whether:

The laws, regulations, and practices of foreign governments, or the competitive methods imposed by owners, operators, agents, or masters of foreign-flagged vessels, might violate statutes administered by the Commission, including 46 U.S.C. Chapter 421, such as by creating unfavorable conditions in the foreign trade of the United States.