President Trump’s Restoring America’s Maritime Dominance Executive Order was issued on April 9, 2025. Iowa is ready.
We all appreciate how Iowa is embracing its modern, sustainable, rural, regional, multi-modal, inland ports, especially the Ports of Eastern Iowa Authority (PEIA) on the East Coast. PEIA was designed in the Midwest tradition of minimal governance, with strong local public private partnerships in mind, and to be capable of regionally supporting the needs of riverfront communities and businesses.
It is important for the nation and world to recognize that Iowa, the No. 1 corn producer and No. 2 soybean producer in the U .S., has safe, modern, reliable, dependable, sustainable, and resilient access to global markets. Official recognition of U.S. ports in Iowa reinforces that it is a serious and nationally significant part of the global supply chain.
Prior to the Corn Belt Ports initiative, which began in late 2019, Iowa was the only Mississippi River-state without a federally recognized port within the state. It was the only Upper Mississippi River-state without a state ports association, and it was the only state on the Upper Mississippi River without a maritime section and maritime program within the state’s Department of Transportation. Significant progress has been made in addressing these issues over the last few years.
In 2020 when the Mississippi River Ports of Eastern Iowa and Western Illinois was first listed and ranked as a U.S. port, it was the 56th largest port in the United States and handled 8.4 million tons of freight – the same as the Port of Miami.
For perspective, that year the Mississippi River Ports of Eastern Iowa and Western Illinois handled more freight tonnage than the coastal ports of Providence, Rhode Island; Brownville, Texas; Wilmington, North Carolina; Wilmington, Delaware; Canaveral, Florida; Portsmouth, New Hampshire; San Francisco, California; Palm Beach, Florida; Gulfport, Mississippi; and San Diego, California.
Iowa can no longer be seen as outsourcing the operation and management of its rural inland ports to distant urban areas like St. Louis, Minneapolis/St. Paul, or Chicago. Iowa must be recognized as a national and global leader in the type of rural, regional inland ports that are unique to, and characteristic of Iowa.
The President’s Restoring America’s Maritime Dominance Executive Order will create Maritime Prosperity Zones on our rivers. They are modeled after the Opportunity Zones that were formed during President Trump’s first administration. This is a designation that should be pursued for Iowa’s nationally and globally significant inland ports.
Robert A. Sinkler is the executive director of Corn Belt Ports. He can be reached at [email protected].
