The trucking industry plays a vital role in America’s economy—and presidential policies can have a major impact on how it operates. In this section, we cover the latest developments related to former President Donald Trump and how his actions, statements, or proposed policies affect truckers, fleet owners, and the broader logistics sector. Stay informed with news, analysis, and insights tailored for professionals in the commercial trucking world.
The 47th president of the United States Donald Trump announced that he, with the growing support of Republican lawmakers, was considering an embargo on diesel fuel exports to other countries, saying that the United States’ citizens need it for themselves. If this were to become reality what effect would it have on the nation’s economy?
When something is great for so long, the notion of simply being “good” may come as a shock to some. In previous articles describing trucking sales for 2026, we have used terms such as “skyrocket” and “run-up” as the trucking industry was having a party. Now that the refreshments have diminished and the party is starting to wind down, there is still fun to be had, but not to the same extent.
Would you like to get your CDL online? Sounds absurd, but there exist online trucking schools, which are among the list in the latest crackdown from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) on trucking schools in the name of safety.
Would you like to have a less fuel-efficient truck? In a vacuum that seems like a stupid question, especially with 2026’s diesel fuel prices. When the question becomes “would you trade one or two miles per gallon of fuel efficiency to save $20,000 off the purchase price tag of a newer vehicle”, the logistics change entirely. The electric truck is the final conclusion of this: fuel prices are significantly cheaper but seldom justify the higher cost of purchase. All of this is to set up the background for a new decision from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) that reverses well over a decade of precedent.
When it comes to hours-of-service regulations, one dramatic change between both Trump Administrations and the Biden Administration when it comes to guidance from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has been flexibility. Whereas the Biden Administration had a focus on keeping things straight and narrow, Trump’s FMCSA approach has been to test the boundaries to find ways to make truckers’ jobs easier without compromising safety. These two pilot programs prove just that.
Does this story sound familiar? At the start of the month, we wrote about how President Donald Trump started a program to help veterans transition from becoming military warriors into road warriors, spearheaded by the executive branch of the federal government and supported by various business entities. With executive decisions and orders it is much easier to put into place than congressional legislation, but is also much easier to remove should the winds of change blow. To that end, Brian Mast, representative of the 21st district of Florida, is introducing a Bill to make it an official directive by Congress to help get veterans on the road.
First warriors in combat, then warriors of the road.
The second Trump Administration is working with six large trucking stakeholders to launch what it called the Freedom Haulers Initiative, to help military veterans transition to a stable trucking career by reducing obstacles that might otherwise get in their way.
In President Donald Trump’s first term, he had a policy for the Executive Branch: for every regulation added, two must be removed. In his second term, he has ramped this up tremendously, making it so that federal entities must remove ten regulations for every new one added. One such entity, under the federal Department of Transportation is the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), and they have a few more changes they are implementing.
If you have been paying attention on the Internet as of late, you may have heard of the term “Flock cameras”. Flock Safety is a business that specializes in security and surveillance hardware. With Flock saying that it reads billions of license plates every month through its cameras, some members of Congress are worried that this can be a violation of privacy, including for truck drivers. To that end, the House of Representatives has introduced the Protecting Rights in Video and Equipment Acquired Discovery (PRIVACY) Act. Do not ask us how that name becomes that acronym.
Another truck parking story for the month of July. The current Department of Transportation under President Donald Trump seems to be kicking it into high gear, as it announced $1.73 billion in federal grants for 127 infrastructure projects, with $62 million of it going towards parking in five states.
One movement that has gained a lot of traction in the technology sphere is “right to repair”, and chances are you have heard about it here and there: conglomerates making it difficult to repair already bought equipment so as to make fixing more expensive or even impossible so that the original manufacturer can get additional sales of a product. The Trump Administration and its Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is bringing this movement to the trucking industry.
In the heart of Lehigh Valley in Macungie, Pennsylvania, the 47th president of the United States spoke at the Mack Trucking Plant, the same one that president Joe Biden spoke at approximately five years before. Needless to say, there was a lot on Trump’s mind.
The passage of time is slow but inexorable; though this article is being written in March 2026, eventually we will reach 2027 and the engine regulations that have been touted for years will come into play. Here is what you need to know.
The fine folks over at ACT Research and FTR Transportation Intelligence have reported tremendous news: the sales of heavy-duty commercial trucks have skyrocketed in the last 12 months.
In the latest battle of federal vs. state governments, California was dealt a heavy blow as it conceded ground on non-domiciled CDLs, revoking them from drivers who were issued them in California.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has taken a step back in terms of its raw enforcement ever since the transition to the second Trump Administration from President Joe Biden, but that does not mean the EPA is doing absolutely nothing to manage the environment. In an attempt to balance economic growth with environmental health, the EPA is demanding that original equipment manufacturers submit data on their Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF) system failures.
It is the great paradox of the second Trump presidency; while the 47th president wants to reduce the total number of regulations on the books (at times touting a 10-to-1 ratio on the number of regulations removed versus added), the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has seen more regulations put into place in the name of safety.
Until now, all of the hubbub regarding English language proficiency was on the federal level, with the federal government threatening to withhold funding should the state refuse to comply with federal standards. Now, some states, in line with the federal government, are taking a stand and implementing their own state laws regarding use of the English language.
While the stock market is not the only indicator of economic performance and strength, it is an indicator, as investors put their money where their mouth is and purchase partial ownership in companies they believe will perform well in the future.
On December 30th Department of Transportation (DOT) Secretary Sean Duffy announced $118 million in grant awards aiming to increase safety on America’s roadways, through the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA).
Another year has come and gone, and with it a whole plethora of trucking news as the industry deals with the transition into a new presidential administration. Here is the biggest article from each month to highlight how the sentiment in the trucking industry was at that period.
Last time we wrote about the non-domiciled CDL crackdown saga, it was covering Minnesota. Now, Colorado is the fifth state to be put under the microscope to see if the Centennial State is in line with federal regulations.
Congress is debating a new Bill in its halls, the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act (CORCA). The Bill, should it become law, would broaden federal criminal offenses for transporting, selling, or receiving stolen retail goods when done as part of an organized group.
Recently, President Trump announced that the federal government was moving marijuana from a Schedule I drug to a Schedule III drug. How will this affect the trucking industry? The answer may (or may not) shock you.
In a move that is rarely seen in today’s political climate, the Trump Administration is continuing on a rule popular with the Biden Administration…with a few modifications.
Generally speaking, electric trucks are more energy efficient than diesel trucks, when comparing the amount of energy it takes to go a mile (effective miles per gallon is the commonly used metric to compare the apples of electricity to the oranges of diesel). With that said, there are many more factors in play when it comes to trucking companies making the decision to transition to electric. Perhaps the biggest one is price.
The newest chapter in the California saga unfolds, as last we wrote about the ongoing battle between state and federal government, California was only one of a few states not complying with new regulations regarding issuance of non-domiciled CDLs. However, according to Sean Duffy of the Department of Transportation, California is the only state that is not enforcing the English language requirements on the road, and for every action there is an opposite reaction.
The war between state and federal governments continue, as the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration plans to tighten access to Non-Domiciles Commercial Driver’s Licenses (CDLs), essentially the trucking equivalent of a green card for non-citizens. What does this have to do with state government? A good number of them come from one particular golden state.
The life of a truck driver requires a lot of flexibility, something that regulations can, while intentions are good, get in the way of and make things more difficult for all. To that end, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has announced through the “Pro Trucker Package” two new pilot programs where they will test the effects of new regulations on a small subset of truckers, and, if the data looks good, implement it on the general populace to make trucker life easier to manage.
By this point, if you have followed the news at any point in 2025, you are exhausted about hearing the word “tariff.” Hopefully the case will be settled once and for all, as the Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case for Trump’s imported goods taxes that have been battled in the lower courts for almost half a year.
If you thought the first Trump Administration from 2017 was intense in cutting regulations, the second Trump Administration kicks it into hyperdrive. Like Argentina Prime Minister Javier Millei raising a chainsaw in defiance towards the red tape, Trump’s second Administration is ordered to slash 10 regulations for every new one added, a quintuple increase from his first term. Here are the current standings of some of the most contentious topics in the trucking industry, and where they stand as of late 2025.
The war between federal and state governments continues, as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the California Air Resources Board (CARB) have a bit of a scuffle regarding emission checking devices.
In the latest round of regulations, the United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that effective immediately, foreign work visas for commercial truckers is to be put on hold for the foreseeable future.
Diesel Exhaust Fluid, henceforth referred to as DEF, is a fluid that combines with standard diesel exhaust to reduce the total amount of NOx added to the atmosphere as the diesel engine runs.
It is another day in California, and that means somebody is suing somebody else. This time, however, it relates directly to the trucking industry, as four truck manufactures are shifting gears and standing against the California Air Resources Board (CARB).
The second most popular day of the year for laws and regulations to go into effect is July 1st, the most popular being the start of a new year. Thirteen states have updated their fuel taxes for the midpoint of 2025. Here is what that entails.
Taxes for 2025 in the trucking industry just became a lot more interesting due to a provision in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
It seems like the battle between state and federal government will never end, it is just a question as to which state is battling the United States government.
Under the watch of Lee Zeldin, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) wants to rescind Obama-Era endangerment findings and regulations. Doing this would remove the EPA’s authority to regulate greenhouse gases.
The battle of regulations regarding speed regulators is a long-fought war, but those in opposition of it have received some reprieve, as the Department of Transportation (DOT) under the 47th President of the United States Donald Trump has announced that it will not be pursuing speed limiters for the foreseeable future.
When it comes to government spending, there are few things that receive as much bipartisan support as infrastructure investment: things that everyone uses in the United States with little more than a second thought.
“Out of the frying pan and into the fire” is a common phrase, but it is an accurate telling of the battle for low-emission vehicles in California. When one battle ends, another begins.
One June 12th, 2025, 47th President of the United States Donald Trump signed an order that rules back a regulation from the Obama-era that gave states such as California more leeway in determining its own emission standards for vehicles, ranging from standard 4-wheel passenger vehicles used to commute to work to commercial vehicles that are work.
We get cheap imports from China; that is a fact. The 47th President of the United States, Donald Trump, sees that with a negative connotation in cheap. No longer, he believes, is it a good value, but rather that components and materials used in trucks such as steel are frail and of lower quality.
The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) is a private organization that works to improve safety on America’s roads, as opposed to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), which enforces it under regulation and the weight of the United States Federal Government.
“My department is slashing duplicative and outdated regulations that are unnecessarily burdensome, waste taxpayer dollars, and fail to ensure safety,” Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy said in an announcement on May 29th. “These are common-sense changes that will help us build a more efficient government that better reflects the needs of the American people. Big government has been a big failure.”
As we established in a previous article, President Donald Trump issued an Executive Order explicitly requiring the enforcement of a prior regulation saying that CDL-holders must understand English. To fulfill that Executive Order, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is planning to implement a test to make sure those who are questioned about their English fluency are able to talk the talk, so to speak.
We have written at great length about Biden-era infrastructure investments, and how things have changed (or in some cases, stayed the same) with the transition to the second Trump Administration. One such case is the lawsuit of sixteen states trying to get money from established funds. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy is working to get those infrastructure projects underway.
Yesterday we published an article about a coalition of sixteen different states suing California regarding the Advanced Clean Fleet regulation. This is not a case of deja vu; the exact same number of states happen to be running their own lawsuit against the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA).
The only thing that is predictable about the second Trump Administration is that it is unpredictable.
The 47th president of the United States, Donald Trump has already signed numerous executive orders in the first year of his second term in office.
Unless you have been completely disconnected from the news (in which case, how are you reading this?), there is a word that you have heard to the point of nausea: tariffs, and the mass hysteria going around their implications.
When it comes to the trucking industry, it seems that the Trump Administration is taking an approach where actions speak louder than words. Rather than spending time focusing on the nitty-gritty finer details of the inner workings of the trucking industry, the administration of the 47th president is focused on getting goods from Point A to Point B.
Under the Trump Administration, the Department of Transportation (DOT) wants to slash regulations so that commercial businesses that utilize America’s infrastructure can thrive, but it is a bit lost as to where to start. With President Trump upping the ante of regulations cut versus added from 2:1 to 10:1, the DOT needs to get busy. […]
With the change in presidential administrations from Biden to Trump, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) has found itself against growing opposition to the policies that it hopes to implement, namely, the Advanced Clean Trucks Rule and Omnibus NOx waivers.
The headline for this article might seem a little weird at first glance. “Why would trucking companies feel uneasy about the Trump Administration deciding to rollback emissions regulations for the Environmental Protection Agency?” But the reason why makes sense given the implications of America’s government.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) saga continues, with the previous update to this being Adrienne Camire leaving the FMCSA without a trace.The 47th president has wasted no time finding the next FMCSA Acting Administrator, however, and has tapped a man by the name of Derek Barrs for the position.DetailsThe role of FMCSA Administrator […]
We at TopMark Funding hate to report this, but the news is the news and we have no direct influence over how people act in Washington D.C. We wrote on March 11th about Adrienne Camire taking up the position of Acting Administrator of the FMCSA. Two weeks later, she has silently stepped down. Details The […]
If you have been following news regarding the trucking industry for a while, there is a pretty good chance you are familiar with the name “Chris Spear.” The president of the American Trucking Association (ATA), which has a membership of 50 state trucking associations, is a relatively big player within the space.
On March 7th President Trump appointed Adrienne Camire to be the Deputy Administrator and the Acting Administrator for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA).Details“I am pleased to welcome Adrienne Camire as Acting Administrator of FMCSA,” said U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy in a statement regarding Camire’s appointment. “Ms. Camire is a dedicated leader […]
Anyone who has spent an hour in Manhattan knows that it is crowded, which is part of the reason why the state of New York introduced congestion pricing to the lower part of the island. The Trump Administration is fighting back, rescinding previous approval from the prior administration and promising to see the other party in court.
Lee Zeldin, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), has submitted waivers to pull back California’s approval for the Advanced Clean Truck and Omnibus NOx regulations that were established under the Biden Administration. How does submitting waivers to Congress actually stop those regulations rather than hurt it? Well, it is complicated.DetailsWe have covered both of […]
When Joe Biden was in office, there was a set rule for fuel economy standards within the United States: the average of all 2031 models for cars must be or exceed 50.4 miles per gallon. Now that there is a new administration, Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has decided to axe that. Details The […]
By the time this article is published for the world to see, Donald Trump will have taken office as the 47th president of the United States. On January 15th, however, former Wisconsin representative Sean Duffy had a three-hour confirmation hearing with the Senate Commerce Committee to see if he is a quality candidate to become the Secretary of Transportation.
Unless you have been living under a rock for the past two years, you have heard about the California Air Resource Board (CARB) and their strong plans to make the trucking industry greener. No new diesel trucks by 2036. Illegal to operate a diesel truck by 2042. Well, drivers in or traveling through the Golden State can now rest easier, as CARB has decided to abandon these plans.
During Donald Trump’s first term as president, there were tariffs going both ways between the United States and Canada. Donald Trump’s second term is expected to have tariffs be an order of magnitude higher than that, so Canada is hoping to up the ante as well as it refuses to be pushed around by us, the U.S.
With the Biden Administration in its final days and the second Trump presidency on the horizon, Biden’s Department of Transportation (DOT) released a list of its accomplishments to the American people so as not to be forgotten with whatever comes next.DetailsExecutive Order 14123 says that a White House Council on Supply Chain Resiliency must release […]
One problem with the development of autonomous commercial vehicles that is often overlooked is things other than driving that a trucker may do as a part of his or her job. One such example was noticed by Waymo and Aurora, and as such they petitioned the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) to allow the […]
Another year comes to a close; a relatively hectic and interesting one for the trucking industry. Here are the biggest articles of each month, in case you need a refresher.
One of the most fun and interesting studies to come out of the trucking industry every year is from the fine folks over at the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI), where they use the power of math and statistics to determine how much more efficiently the United States economy could go if there were less […]
Merry Christmas from all of us at TopMark Funding! It seems as though Santa has left a present under the tree for the industry as a whole, as the National Retail Federation reports expectations of a record-shattering holiday season of deliveries. Details According to the National Retail Federation, sales by dollar are expected to be […]
In the latest update in the war on truck parking, the Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT) announced that it is using state funding to build new parking spots across the Constitution State.DetailsCurrently in Connecticut, there are 420 public use commercial truck parking spots, a fraction of what is needed to sustain truckers traveling to and […]
If you have been following even the slightest bit of political news, you have probably heard that Donald Trump is going to be placing tariffs on Canada, China, and Mexico. What does this mean? Quick Rundown on Tariffs A tariff is a tax imposed on imported goods to serve two purposes: additional revenue for the […]
As with Biden replacing Trump’s policies before him, Trump will be doing the same in kind to President Biden once his term ends, reverting as much as he can before implementing his own changes to how the country is run. Because it is much harder to stop a moving train when it starts, the Biden […]
When it comes to ELD regulations, we have aired our grievances before. It seems someone at the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is a huge fan of our writing, as they are taking steps to inform truckers of Electronic Logging Devices being removed from their registry. Either that, or it is a happy coincidence. […]
The government is like a massive ship. It has a lot of inertia, and it is a lot harder to turn it, let alone 180 degrees when it is in motion. Despite there being an inevitable transfer of power once Trump takes the Oval Office, he might find it difficult to stop previously established EPA […]
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) voted 12 to 2 on November 8th in favor of revamping its Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS). What does this mean for truckers in the Golden State? Details The vote comes on the heels of the 2024 presidential election, after news that Donald Trump would be returning to office, […]
With Trump slated to return to the Oval Office in 2025, he is picking out people to lead in the executive branch of the United States federal government. You may have heard of a few of them by now, but one that will have a profound impact on the trucking industry is whoever leads the […]
Regulations are much harder to get off the books than they are to prevent from getting onto them in the first place. With Donald Trump a few months out from his second presidential term, here are some potential changes to upcoming regulations plaguing the trucking industry.
Anyone who has been paying attention to our reporting of the news, especially in regard to regulations, likely noticed that we ended a good number of articles with “it will be interesting to see how the 2024 election plays out and if there is a change of party in the White House, how that will […]
Jack Van Steenburg, the Assistant Administrator and Chief Safety Officer of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) during the Trump Administration, pointed out a very interesting statistic when speaking at the Heavy Duty Trucking Exchange: despite there being 750,000 motor carriers within the United States, only about 19,000 (or 3%) have gone through the […]
(Play the video to listen to the article) Some of the biggest news in the trucking industry right now is the adoption of greener technologies such as electric and hydrogen-powered vehicles, but the adoption rate of greener vehicles amongst the general populace has slowed down in recent years, despite consistently high gas and diesel prices. […]
The American Free Enterprise Chamber of Commerce (AmFree Chamber) is joining in on the fun of suing the state of California for its regulations that will make it unlawful to drive a diesel-powered vehicle in the state by 2042.DetailsThe lawsuit was filed on April 1st, but it is certainly no joke.The legal arm of AmFree […]
Perhaps you have heard in the news in the past few weeks that there were murmurs about a potential trucker strike against New York City in retribution for a ruling […]
You might remember how we wrote about the impending lawsuit coming from Louisiana regarding independent contractor classification and how it will have negative effects on the trucking industry, but the judicial branch is not the only check and balance impeding the Department of Labor. Now, Congress wants in on the action.DetailsRepresentative Kevin Kiley, a Republican […]
We do not report on diesel prices as much as we have in the past, and that is because we prefer to report when the news is something special, as is the case here. According to the Energy Information Administration, the average for diesel fuel across the nation is $4.022 per gallon, which is within […]
The 2024 Republican presidential candidate who is also a billionaire spoke at the World’s Largest Truckstop in Iowa to talk about what he would do regarding regulations within the trucking industry.Was our description of the candidate not apt enough to properly discern? To be more specific: it was Vivek Ramaswamy.DetailsThe Republican hopeful on his campaign […]
The California AB-5 saga has not come to a close yet, as what the Supreme Court will do with it remains a mystery, but other challenges to the independent contractor/employee dynamic are still in motion. One such case is the Department of Labor redefining the term “independent contractor” shortly after the Biden Administration came into […]
We wrote about how the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals stated the vaccine mandate was constitutional, and how it was now up to whether or not the Supreme Court would be willing to hear the case. We have our answer: the Supreme Court has agreed to a special hearing on January 7th. Details Were the […]
On February 17th, Biden continued his streak of changing gears from his predecessor by rescinding Executive Order 13801. As you can imagine from reading about it here, this impacts the trucking industry. Here is what Executive Order 13801 entailed and what Biden is doing to replace it.Executive Order 13801Hoping to bolster the use of such […]
Secretary of the Department of Transportation Elaine Chao has announced that she will be resigning from her position, effective January 11th. This marks the end of the second-longest cabinet holding behind Mike Pence himself: Elaine Chao started January 31st, 2016. Details Elaine Chao cites the storming of the U.S. Capitol as her reason for not […]
How much is added flexibility to your driving workday worth to you? House Democrats on Capitol Hill unveiled the Investing in a New Vision for the Environment and Surface Transportation in America (INVEST in America) Act on Wednesday, May 3rd. The bill is 864 pages long, but the two biggest pieces that should interest truck […]
Suspensions of Hours of Service (HOS) regulations are nothing new to the trucking industry, just recently there were two declared in Alabama and Tennessee. What is new is that the FMCSA has announced a nationwide suspension on HOS regulations in regards to commercial vehicle drivers hauling emergency relief across the entire country. The National Emergency […]
Though USMCA may sound like the acronym for an offshoot of the Marine Corps, in this context it stands for the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. The shipping of goods between the United States, Canada, and Mexico is bound to affect the trucking industry. History of the USMCA Before we understand USMCA, we must first know the […]
What Every Business Owner Needs to Know Section 179 is a very simple part of the tax code. Even if you do not know its name, if you have ever done taxes for a business you own, you most likely have already claimed a Section 179 Deduction. In this article, we will go over Section […]
Truckers Need to Save More Fuel Gas. It’s the thing that we all think about when we drive for a long time (or even a short amount of time). What gas mileage do you get? How much is it going to cost in gas? How often will we have to stop? And what can be […]
The Big Question: Do I Buy New Or Used Equipment? When it comes to decisions for your business, you always want to make the most financially sound decision possible. Purchasing large equipment such as semi trucks can be an overwhelming decision unless you do your research. When you know exactly what to buy and have […]
