The return of former President Donald Trump to office in January touched off a flurry of executive orders on everything from government spending to the military to securing the U.S. southern border.
Recently we had a chance to visit with David Heller, senior vice president of safety and government affairs for the Truckload Carriers Association (TCA) about what Trump’s second term in the White House could mean for trucking.
While Trump’s actions so far, at least at the time of this writing, are not directly aimed at the freight industry, Heller says he looks forward to a good working relationship with the White House — and Congress in general — over the next four years.
‘A friend to trucking’
The previous Trump administration was often viewed as favorable toward the industry.
“It’s no surprise that President Trump is friendly to trucking. He understands the business, and he’s involved in the business,” Heller said. “Quite frankly, his personal business outside of being president of the United States has relied on trucking for all of its existence, just as any business in this country does.
“Judging by his presence in his last administration, I think we can expect an ear,” he continued. “That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to be a good ear or a bad ear, but he has control over the House, and he has control of the Senate through the Republican Party.”
Even though most of the executive orders signed during Trump’s first couple of weeks in the Oval Office don’t specifically address the priorities of the trucking industry, Heller believes some do apply to trucking by extension. The meatier issues that will directly affect trucking will likely come later, he says.
“I think you’ll see it as a ‘next wave,’” he said of the trucking industry’s legislative agenda. “When you start looking at some of the infrastructure aspects of what President Trump has signed, there have been side impacts.”
Environmental issues
One executive order that will ultimately benefit trucking is Trump’s cancellation of environmental mandates requiring vehicle manufacturers to phase out the use of diesel engines for electric motors in both passenger and commercial vehicles, Heller noted.
“We, as an industry, were faced with rules coming out of the Environmental Protection Agency that we had to start adopting electric vehicles for our fleets by as soon as 2030,” he said.
That short of a timeline is unrealistic, according to Heller.
“Right now, the equipment just doesn’t work for us. It doesn’t hold water to its diesel-powered counterpart,” he said. “How are we supposed to effectively deliver freight productively in a manner which we do today with equipment that doesn’t work as well as the equipment that we’re using?
“I think everybody wants to improve upon the environment, but we have to do so in a way in which we can accomplish it, not ways that are pipe dreams and unicorns,” he continued. “Let’s really have some common-sense discussions on what really makes the most sense for our industry so that we can keep America in toilet paper.”
Infrastructure improvements
As for other industry priorities, Heller says that continuing the work on the nation’s infrastructure is of primary importance. Over the four years of the Biden administration, $1.2 trillion was spent on the effort. While this was a good start, Heller says, the work must continue.
“Not enough has been done,” he said. “For instance, the one thing that was left out of the last infrastructure bill was truck parking.”
The availability of safe, secure parking for commercial drivers has long been near the top of most lists of trucking industry issues for years.
“We as an industry desperately need more spaces for our drivers to park while they’re out on the roads, specifically in the truckload segment of the industry,” Heller said.
“This is not a secret,” he said. “The fact that there is one parking spot for every 11 trucks on the road today shows a tremendous need. These drivers should have an adequate amount of safe, secure places to park their vehicles so that they can get the rest that they need as required by hours-of-service regulations.”
The Biden administration’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is set to expire in September 2026.
“That means it’s going to be within this Congress’ purview to start laying the groundwork for what the next infrastructure bill,” Heller noted.
Rolling back regulations
Heller views Trump’s continued rollback of regulations as a good sign of things to come that will help American industry in general — and the trucking industry specifically.
“We can’t forget the regulatory ‘noise’ the Trump administration is going be responsible for overseeing, things like speed limiters, automatic emergency braking,” he said. “These are issues that are kind of hanging, waiting to see what comes down the pike.
“At the very least, we want to see what could effectively come in on the future of rulemaking on the testing of autonomous vehicles,” he continued.
In effect, Heller says, the previous Trump administration removed the regulatory burden of two regulations for every one issued — a trend he expects will continue in version 2.0 of the Trump administration.
“Certainly not all regulations are bad,” he said. “There are some good and needed regulations out there. But our expectation is that (the administration) will indeed take up the mantle on some of these things.”
Protecting the independent contractor model
Heller also expects the federal government to become more involved with protecting the process by which many Americans enter the trucking industry — a proposition that has become more complicated as various state laws call into question the definition of independent contractors.
Certain laws in states like California, as well as rules and regulations that came from the Department of Labor during the Biden administration effectively instituted an economic realities test for determining whether an independent contractor is an independent contractor or not.
“We expect the president to support that American Dream of becoming your own business owner. That’s what the (independent contractor) business model represents. It’s been around for as long as trucking has,” Heller said.
“Most of your major truckload carriers that operate today were founded based on that independent contractor business model: Go buy one truck, start hauling freight and grow your fleet from that point,” he noted. “That’s ‘Business 101,’ and we certainly expect the president to ease that burden in bringing the independent contractor model back into the fold.”
No matter what Trump 2.0 brings to the table, TCA will continue to be the “voice of truckload” on Capitol Hill, working to ensure the success of its members and the trucking industry as a whole.
Dwain Hebda is a freelance journalist, author, editor and storyteller in Little Rock, Arkansas. In addition to The Trucker, his work appears in more than 35 publications across multiple states each year. Hebda’s writing has been awarded by the Society of Professional Journalists and a Finalist in Best Of Arkansas rankings by AY Magazine. He is president of Ya!Mule Wordsmiths, which provides editorial services to publications and companies.
