Trump and Trucking

Part 2 - In the November Landing Gear, I briefly commented on what can be expected in a presidential transition, both from the administration leaving office (the “lame ducks”) and from the incoming administration. Over the past month, the outgoing administration has rushed to release new administrative rules, Executive Orders and pardons or commutations of verdicts or prison sentences. It is likely that some of President Biden’s acts will be overturned or revoked by the incoming Trump Administration.

What actions are the Trump Administration expected to take regarding issues affecting the trucking industry? Looking back on the 2016 and 2020 campaigns, as well as his first term in office, President Trump was a vocal supporter of trucking, highlighting trucks on the White House lawn and as background images for campaign rallies and speaking positively about the industry.

That said, two troubling Trump-backed issues loom large today:

First, President-Elect Trump announced that he will nominate a pro-union former Republican congresswoman to head the Department of Labor (DOL). This could indicate that the proposed DOL rule restricting independent contractors might continue to receive support even though Trump previously supported a more business-friendly independent contractor rule supported by the trucking industry.

Second, Trump has announced he will impose new tariffs on goods imported from Canada, Mexico, China and other countries. Tariffs will directly affect trucking as anything that raises the cost of imported goods generally leads to less freight to haul for all types of trucking operations.

In addition, trucking-related rules or policies pending in Congress or in executive agencies include:

• Requiring brokers to increase transparency on what they get paid and what they pay carriers on a given load.
• Extension of the Trump tax cuts for small businesses (the current cuts expire in 2025) plus potential additional cuts for small businesses.
• Speed limiters on trucks over 26,000 pounds GVW.

Trucking associations and carriers hope to see action on other truck-related proposals that have not yet been formally proposed either in legislation or rulemaking:

• Repealing the federal excise tax on commercial vehicles
• Dedicating funds for increased truck parking
• Revising the new entrant process and addressing FMCSA’s backlog of carriers with no ratings or with conditional ratings.

Most trucking-related measures originate from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. An FMCSA Administrator nominee must be approved by the Senate. Regardless of who President Trump nominates and gets approved, will that person stay and take charge of the agency? It’s hard to say; however, the administrator position has been a revolving door since 2017. From 2001 to 2017, the agency had only five administrators. Since 2017, eight administrators or acting administrators have served in the role, with most leaving after just a few months to take other jobs or to go into consulting.

Consequently, the agency has been and is being run by un-elected and un-appointed career bureaucrats. Proposed regulations often don’t make it through the regulatory process before leadership changes. Obviously, this prevents bad regulations, but the regulatory standstill can prevent helpful regulations from being implemented.

So how will the Trump Administration treat truckers? On balance, I believe our industry will do well under the new administration, depending on who gets approved to head DOL and FMCSA, how impactful tariffs will be on freight volumes, the regulations that are supported by the new administration and many other factors. Stay tuned and we will keep you informed.