Trucking news and briefs for Monday, April 7, 2025:
Cross-border imports surged ahead of Trump’s tariffs
A significant surge of imports worked their way across the northern and southern U.S. borders during the first three months of the year, just ahead of a looming global trade war sparked by sweeping "reciprocal tariffs" announced last Wednesday by the Trump administration on imported goods.
As reported by Overdrive sister publication CCJ’s Jason Cannon, trucking activity at the Port of Laredo -- the busiest land port in the U.S. -- jumped 48.5% year-over-year during the first three months this year, according to data collected by Motive, with the last week of March marking the highest activity levels ever recorded. Import volume from Canada jumped 15.1% in January compared to 2024, reaching its highest level since August 2022, according to Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED).
The latest FRED data also showed a surge in January (+9.6%) in import volume over January 2024. Hamish Woodrow, head of strategic analytics at Motive, said his firm's data suggests February and March will come in at the same level, if not higher, and the momentum could last for at least the next few weeks.
"The surge we’re seeing is driven by urgency and uncertainty. Businesses accelerated shipments in Q1 to beat the tariff clock, but that momentum doesn’t stop overnight," Woodrow said. "There’s a lag as pre-tariff orders still flow through the system, and some companies are continuing to import at elevated levels to lock in known costs before additional changes hit."
[Related: Freight signals encouraging (for now): ATBS' owner-operator income update]
Woodrow said, too, many businesses are over-indexing on stocking inventory to build resilience.
President Donald Trump last Wednesday -- a day he'd dubbed “Liberation Day" -- introduced a 10% tariff across the board on imported goods, with greater duties added on a country-by-country basis. Chinese imports, for example, would be tagged with a 54% tariff, European Union goods with 20%, Indian with 26% and Japanese with 24%. Mexican and Canadian goods are exempt from the new tariffs, but remain subject to existing duties on auto imports, metals and other goods.
See Cannon’s full report on CCJ to read more about the suspected impacts of the new tariffs.
[Related: Freight analysts forecast headwinds of uncertainty around tariffs, could yield slow-growth 2025]
Great Dane recalling trailers equipped with recalled Bridgestone tires
Great Dane Trailers is recalling certain 2025-‘26 Champion dry van trailers that are equipped with Bridgestone R123 Ecopia tires, size 295/75R22.5, which were recently recalled themselves.
As reported with Bridgestone’s recall, approximately 1,185 of the tires may have been manufactured incorrectly with one of the three stabilizer ply belts applied in the wrong orientation.
As such, approximately 16 Great Dane trailers equipped with the tires fail to comply with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) number 119, "New pneumatic tires - other than passenger cars."
Bridgestone dealers will replace the tires, free of charge. Owner notification letters are expected to be mailed May 27. Owners can contact Bridgestone customer service at 1-800-847-3272 or Great Dane customer service at 1-877-369-3493. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s recall number is 25V-200.
[Related: Bridgestone recalling Ecopia trailer tire]
Driver named Highway Angel for assisting crash victim
The Truckload Carriers Association (TCA) has named Haasanpreet Singh Sidhu, a truck driver for Canadian National Transportation Limited (CNTL) out of Brampton, Ontario, a Highway Angel for stopping to pull a disoriented truck driver out of his tractor-trailer after it flipped over in a ditch.
Haasanpreet Singh Sidhu
“I was just finishing my shift and I noticed there was a truck just rolled over in front of me,” Singh said. “There was a lot of diesel spilled; it could turn worse very soon, so I quickly decided to help.”
Singh stopped his truck and climbed to the side of the flipped tractor and assisted in extracting the disoriented driver involved in the incident. While climbing up the side of the rolled truck to assist the driver, Singh suffered a minor injury to his leg.
“Yes, it was a bit dangerous, but I don’t know; I just made a quick decision,” he said. “It was my natural instinct to help a fellow driver in need.”
