Trucking news and briefs for Friday, Sept. 26, 2025:
Trump imposes new tariff on truck imports
President Donald Trump on Thursday announced on his Truth Social platform that, effective next week, the U.S. will levy tariffs on all imported heavy-duty trucks.
"In order to protect our Great Heavy Truck Manufacturers from unfair outside competition, I will be imposing, as of October 1st, 2025, a 25% Tariff on all 'Heavy (Big!) Trucks' made in other parts of the World," he wrote. "Therefore, our Great Large Truck Company Manufacturers, such as Peterbilt, Kenworth, Freightliner, Mack Trucks, and others, will be protected from the onslaught of outside interruptions. We need our Truckers to be financially healthy and strong, for many reasons, but above all else, for National Security purposes!"
All the major North American heavy-truck manufacturers are global companies but have assembly operations in the U.S.
International Motors, while absent from Trump's list of "Great Large Truck Company Manufacturers," builds its powertrains in Huntsville, Alabama, and has truck assembly plants in Escobedo, Mexico; San Antonio, Texas; and Springfield, Ohio. Volvo, also not on the list, builds trucks in Dublin, Virginia, and powertrains in Hagerstown, Maryland. Volvo also has a new plant under construction in Monterrey, Mexico, scheduled to open next year.
Companies that supplement truck assembly with operations in Mexico are generally allowed to bring those trucks into the U.S. tariff-free under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada (USMC) free trade agreement—a deal Trump signed in 2018 that went into effect in 2020, replacing the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
CCJ is awaiting clarification from the White House on whether this new tariff will be levied on top of USMC or if those trucks will remain exempt as long as 75% of the value in materials and labor is sourced from North America.
Existing tariffs on important raw materials like steel and aluminum have already sent truck prices soaring and helped drag down new truck sales.
RK Logistics grows in Phoenix area
RK Logistics Group has doubled its presence in the greater Phoenix market with an 80,000 square foot temperature-controlled warehouse in Tempe, growing RK's local footprint to nearly 158,000 square feet.
The facility is equipped for storage of a variety of commercial and industrial products, and features material handling equipment and trained personnel to support efficient management of inventory and rapid fulfillment of orders. It has 25 dock doors for loading and unloading of freight, 30-foot clear-height ceilings, and over 200 parking spaces for trucks, trailers and autos.
Wabash growing in Atlanta
Wabash is growing in the Atlanta area, opening a new Parts & Service center, expanding its dealer relationship with Fleetco and adding CS Truck and Trailer to its Preferred Partner Network.
Strategically located at the heart of the Southeast’s trucking corridor, Wabash’s new Atlanta-area Parts and Services center provides faster access to parts, service and truck body upfitting. It will offer Wabash’s Ready-to-Mount (RTM) truck bodies for dry freight and platform applications with rapid turnaround times for in-stock chassis. The Atlanta site joins Wabash service centers in California, Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas, with additional locations on the way.
Fleetco, a long-standing Wabash dealer, will now represent Wabash in the greater Atlanta market with trailer sales. Wabash also added three CS Truck and Trailer locations to its Preferred Partner Network in Georgia, which brings expert service, maintenance and Wabash Genuine Parts to more customers through authorized third-party dealerships.
