Here are the headlines from this week in trucking as of August 27:

Chris Spear suddenly left the American Trucking Associations (ATA)

ATA’s president and CEO for over 10 years has left the organization. Spear had a contract that would have kept him at the head of the organization through 2029, but on August 21 he suddenly left the position, effective immediately. The industry group is now looking for its next leader.

The trade war with Canada is bad news for freight demand

The U.S. launched 25-50% tariffs on roughly $20 billion worth of Canadian imports, and Canada retaliated with its own 25-50% tariffs on roughly $20 billion worth of U.S. imports.

The U.S. tariffs on Canadian imports affect products including electronics, industrial machinery, and dairy products. The Canadian tariffs on U.S. imports affect products including fish, dairy, furniture, and several consumer appliances.

The trade war is likely to harm cross-border freight demand, raise inflation, and ultimately hurt consumers.  

Missouri started a $33 million project for truck parking on I-70

The Missouri Department of Transportation’s Improve I-70 Program will make pavement and parking improvements across Interstate 70 from 2026 through 2028.

The program will add 255 new truck parking stalls for rest areas in Concordia, Boonville, Mineola, and Wright City. The project will also remodel the rest area bathrooms in Wright City and Concordia.

Descartes acquired a broker TMS for $100 million

Transportation technology company Descartes is buying Tai Software, an AI-powered transportation management system provider for freight brokers. The $100 million purchase will be Descartes’s third acquisition this year.

A new private equity operation is buying up carriers

Investment firm M&T Capital Partners launched RTB Holdings, a holding company focused on quickly making acquisitions across truckload, dedicated, managed services, warehousing, and parts of logistics.

The new RTB Holdings has already integrated two carriers, Alabama Motor Express and JIT-Ex.

CVSA released its International Roadcheck enforcement results

Numbers from the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s enforcement blitz in mid-May are now live. Inspectors conducted over 54,000 commercial motor vehicle and driver inspections.

Some of those results: 19% of vehicles and almost 6% of drivers received out-of-service violations—that’s 10,350 vehicles and 3,184 drivers placed out of service during the event.

Top vehicle violations included brake systems, tires, and cargo securement. Top driver violations included not having a medical card, hours-of-service violations, and not having a CDL.

Kodiak and Aurora are authorized to test autonomous trucks in California

Two of the industry’s largest autonomous truck developers, Kodiak AI and Aurora, received permits to test their trucks on California’s roads. The California permits will require the developers to run the trucks with a safety driver on board for at least 100,000 in-state miles. California finally allowed driverless truck testing in April of this year.

Autonomous truck company Gatik got $200 million in extra funding

Medium-duty autonomous truck company Gatik raised $200 million in Series D funding to help expand its business model. The company’s autonomous box trucks haul for major retailers like Walmart and PepsiCo. Gatik moves freight in Texas, Arizona, and Arkansas. It hopes to have more than 100 driverless trucks by the end of the year.

Einride wants to buy 500 Tesla Semis

Trucking technology company Einride revealed that it plans to order 500 Tesla Semis, which would be Tesla’s largest single order of the Semis so far. Einride will use the electric trucks to move freight for its partners, including Amazon. Though Einride also makes autonomous electric trucks, the order seems to be unrelated to the company’s autonomous work.

Spot market rates fell once again

Last week’s average broker-posted spot rate fell by 2.7 cents, according to FTR Transportation Intelligence, to $3.17 per mile. Dry van and flatbed both fell in the ballpark of 2 to 3 cents, while refrigerated rates ticked up slightly by 1.3 cents. Spot rates in Q1 and Q2 this year were quite hot, but not so much in Q3 so far. Still, rates are much better than they were a year ago.

In fuel, diesel shot up by 20 cents

The national average on-highway diesel price increased by 20 cents to $5.65 per gallon, according to the weekly report from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), and settled at $5.62 per gallon, according to the latest data from AAA.