Trucking news and briefs for Tuesday, March 4, 2025:
Imported goods from Canada, Mexico, China hit with new tariffs
President Donald Trump moved forward on Tuesday with tariffs on goods imported from Canada, China and Mexico, sparking a trade war with three of the U.S.'s largest trade partners. Trump said the tariffs are intended “to combat the extraordinary threat to U.S. national security, including our public health, posed by unchecked drug trafficking.”
The new tariffs include a 25% duty on most imports from Canada and Mexico. Existing tariffs on Chinese goods imposed a month ago increased from 10% to 20%.
China Tuesday morning almost immediately responded with tariffs of its own on various U.S. food exports: 15% on chicken, corn, cotton and wheat, and 10% on aquatic products, beef, dairy, fruit, pork, sorghum, soybeans and vegetables.
Canada is imposing corresponding 25% tariffs, effective now according to the government there, on more than $20 billion in U.S. imports, while an additional tariff on $86 billion worth of products looms and takes effect in three weeks. Mexico is expected to announce sanctions of its own.
[Related: Trump's tariffs aimed at Chinese, Mexican, Canadian imports]
As reported by Overdrive sister publication CCJ, there is concern that the new tariffs are likely to come with consequences stateside.
A spokesperson for the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association reiterated its comments from when the tariffs were first put in place, albeit briefly, in February.
“Tariffs on America’s trade partners have the potential to inhibit the recovery from a freight recession that has been acutely felt by America’s small-business truckers, but it is too early to make predictions on specific downstream economic effects,” the organization said. “OOIDA’s trade experts will continue to monitor the effects of these policies as trade negotiations develop and will keep our association members informed.”
American Trucking Associations President and CEO Chris Spear urged that, in an effort to make American “communities stronger and safer, we must also avoid unintended consequences that could exacerbate another one of Americans’ top concerns: the high prices for goods and groceries.”
Spear added that with the success of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement and a growth in nearshoring, “the North American supply chain has become highly integrated and supports millions of jobs. Imposing border taxes on our two largest and most important trading partners will undo this progress and raise costs for consumers."
In a webinar last month hosted by CCJ, panelists said steel and aluminum and other tariffs, if implemented, could cause a decline in freight demand and increased costs, being a chief driver of uncertainty in business. Supply and demand for freight movement have more or less hit "equilibrium," said Jason Miller, professor of supply chain management in the Michigan State business school. "It will take a surge of demand to move things out of that equilibrium" for significant rates growth this year.
Tariffs, both panelists suggested, were unlikely to help fuel sustained demand.
For more on Trump’s new tariffs, read CCJ’s full report here.
[Related: Freight analysts forecast headwinds of uncertainty around tariffs, could yield slow-growth 2025]
Bill revived to require USPS contractor accident monitoring
After passing the U.S. House in the previous Congress but not progressing in the Senate, a bill that would require the United States Postal Service to increase its oversight of trucking contractors is back in Congress and has once again passed in the House.
The Mail Traffic Deaths Reporting Act would require the Postmaster General to issue regulations that require the Postal Service to collect, track and publicly report information related to deaths and injuries in crashes involving vehicles transporting mail. It was introduced by Rep. Gerald Connolly (D-Virginia) and co-sponsored by Rep. James Comer (R-Kentucky).
In May 2023, Connolly urged the USPS Office of Inspector General (OIG) to investigate the safety of freight contract trucking practices at the Postal Service. The OIG released a report in response to Connolly’s request, which found that the Postal Service doesn’t have a written policy requiring the tracking of trucking contractor accidents and fatalities.
The OIG’s No. 1 recommendation was that USPS establish a method for tracking contractor accident and fatality data and establish corresponding written policies and procedures for such a tracking system.
The Mail Traffic Deaths Reporting Act would codify that recommendation by requiring the tracking and reporting of serious crashes and fatalities related to the transport of U.S. postal mail.
Under terms of the legislation, crash reports submitted to USPS would be required to include detailed information describing, at a minimum, the crash -- including the date, time, location, nature of the crash -- information identifying the contractor, number of injuries, fatalities, and any contributing factors to the crash.
USPS would also be required to establish a database that includes comprehensive information related to deaths and injuries from traffic crashes involving vehicles transporting mail.
After passing the House with a 402-16 vote, the bill will now move to the Senate for consideration.
[Related: State bill would criminalize non-U.S.-citizen truck drivers]
Trucker’s efforts to extinguish truck fire recognized
ABF Freight truck driver Matt Harris, from Ione, California, has been named a Highway Angel by the Truckload Carriers Association for stopping to help extinguish a truck fire during a horrific nighttime crash in Lakehead, California.
Matt HarrisTCA
“I saw a glow on the horizon,” said Harris, who has been driving the same route since 1994. “It was the truck that was on fire. I came around the bend and there was fire in the slow lane and diesel fuel all over the slow lane.”
He pulled over onto the left shoulder of the highway, grabbed his fire extinguisher and started fighting the fire until the fire department arrived on-scene. Apparently, the driver of the truck had crashed into the guard rail but exited the crashed truck without injury.
“The driver of the truck was freaked out; he was in shock,” Harris said. “The tires were on fire, so I put that out, and then underneath the fuel tank. I put out the most critical parts of the fire, by the fuel tanks, before my fire extinguisher ran out.”
Driving a truck since 1988, Harris has seen his share of accidents on the road, but he said he stops because that’s what he would hope would happen if he were in trouble.
“Do unto others -- the Golden Rule,” he said. “That’s it.”
