This week in trucking: Tariffs, autonomous expansions
Here are the headlines from this week in trucking as of July 23.
Trump administration tariffs are back in the news cycle
There were three four major tariff stories this week that threaten the movement of some goods:
- The administration threatened 50% tariffs on a range of Canadian goods, including dairy products, alcohols, cement, fabrics, and much more. If the administration follows through on its threat, the tariffs would take effect around August 19 and impact roughly $20 billion worth of goods.
- A tariff against Brazil is also slated to take effect this week: The tariff would add a 25% duty to a range of goods including farm machinery, wood products, and apparel, impacting around $7 billion worth of goods.
- Trump made social media posts outlining a yearslong plan to tariff generic drugs imported to the U.S. The plan would implement a 100% levy in August 2028 and rise to 200% in 2029; however, given the administration’s history of threatening to tariff drugmakers and then capitulating, this plan does not have a great chance of occurring.
- This major news came in after recording this podcast audio—The administration also just announced a new sweeping tariff policy that would implement 10% to 12.5% duties on 60 other countries, effective immediately. According to Reuters, the countires affected make 99.4% U.S. imports. The tarrifs include several exemptions, such as oil and fertilizer.
Some California CDL holders must retake their written exams
California’s Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) recently issued letters to 11,000 people with driver’s licenses, ordering those 11,000 people that they will need to retake their written exams within 30 days or risk losing their licenses. This large-scale license recall affects all driver license types, including regular passenger vehicle licenses and commercial driver’s licenses.
The exact reason for the license recall is unclear; the DMV has only said that it noticed “anomalies” in the testing data. The number of CDLs affected is also still unclear.
Pennsylvania passed a law discouraging CDL mills
Pennsylvania enacted a new law that its sponsors say will crack down on unlicensed commercial driver training schools. The law increases the penalty for running any type of school without proper authorization from the state of Pennsylvania. Previously, the penalty was $2,500—after passing Senate Bill 1294, the penalty is now $25,000.
Aurora announced its second-generation autonomous truck
Autonomous truck developer Aurora is deploying a new fleet of driverless trucks across the Sun Belt. Aurora’s second-generation truck is based on the International LT Series truck paired with Aurora’s hardware. The company already has autonomous upfits for Volvos and Peterbilts. The company’s manufacturing partner, Roush, is upfitting the International trucks with Aurora’s hardware. Roush plans to ramp up production later this year to put out 1,000 of the Aurora-equipped trucks annually.
Einride acquired Flipturn for as much as $73 million
Autonomous electric truck company Einride announced a deal to acquire EV charging management platform Flipturn—the tech company, not the indie rock band. Einride is paying $38.4 million right away for the acquisition and could pay out another $33 million if Flipturn meets performance targets.
ArcBest is cutting back on its footprint
ArcBest, number 23 on the FleetOwner 500 list of the largest for-hire carriers by power unit, is cutting a small amount of its capacity. The company announced a restructuring that involves cutting its workforce by roughly 300 positions and closing 10 of its terminals. Those cuts amount to 2% of its workforce and 1% of its door count, ultimately trimming about 1% of its total operating expenses.
Samsara is getting a rebrand
Transportation technology company Samsara refreshed its look this week. The company’s rebrand changed its primary color from a dark blue to a burnt yellow and changed its owl logo to look more like an aggressive hunter.
In fuel this week, diesel jumped 34 cents
The national average on-highway diesel price increased to $5.13 per gallon according to the weekly U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) report, or $5.18 per gallon according to the latest data from AAA.
The Iran War is still blocking the Strait of Hormuz, and another major oil shipping operation in the Middle East was disrupted this week: Saudi Arabian oil shipments are being threatened at Bab-el-Mandeb, a chokepoint for the Red Sea, by a military group from Yemen called the Houthis. That blockade against Saudi ships in the Red Sea is already contributing to further increases in oil prices.
About the Author
Jeremy Wolfe
Editor
Editor Jeremy Wolfe joined the FleetOwner team in February 2024. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point with majors in English and Philosophy. He previously served as Editor for Endeavor Business Media's Water Group publications.