Two bills just dropped in the Senate that could reshape trucking faster than anything since deregulation. Plus: Russian hackers targeted your load board, flatbed rejection rates just hit 40%, and a robot is taking the Houston-Dallas overnight run.
This week: The Dalilah Law, a trucking bankruptcy that wiped out thousands overnight, a FreightGuard civil war on Reddit, and the payroll data that's predicting Q4 capacity.
Indiana pulled the trigger on carriers employing illegal CDL holders. Plus: tariff ruling could flood LA with imports, DC finally moves on double brokers, spot rates are outrunning contract, and more.
Plus: a Texas-based freight brokerage sues Walmart, AI boosts C.H. Robinson's profit margins, Trump weighs tariff relief for automakers, and more.
Good morning & Happy Hump Day.
Over the past few weeks, it’s become clear: we’re at a turning point in U.S. trucking. In today’s feature, we break down what’s happening now and what we think they’ll go after next.
Plus:
⚖️ Texas Freight Broker Sues Walmart, Citing Unfair Competition. Texas based Barton Logistics has filed a $2 million lawsuit accusing Walmart of using its freight contracts to sabotage the company and pave the way for Walmart’s own brokerage business. The suit, filed Sept. 25 in San Antonio, alleges Walmart forced Barton to deliver loads it “knew would likely be stolen,” withheld payments, and used the disputes to extract carrier data. “It appears there’s a lot of pretext for bullying their way into the business my client has been in historically,” said Barton’s attorney Ryan Reed. Walmart denies wrongdoing, saying it “will respond appropriately to the Court.” Barton claims it laid off 70% of its staff amid the fallout.
🤖 AI Propels C.H. Robinson to Record Margins Despite Freight Slump. C.H. Robinson CEO Dave Bozeman credits automation and AI for record profit margins even as revenue fell 8% to $8.2 billion. “We’re getting much higher win rates because we’re always on,” Bozeman said, noting that AI now handles half of all carrier bookings and quotes. The freight broker posted $393 million in first-half operating profit, up $88 million from 2024, while cutting headcount 20% since 2023. Analysts at TD Cowen say C.H. Robinson is the only major brokerage to expand margins this year, as rivals like RXO contracted. The company is now deploying “agentic AI” to autonomously plan global shipments in hours instead of days.
🚗 Trump Eyes Tariff Relief as Auto Profits Crash. Reuters reports the Trump administration may roll back tariffs on major automakers like Ford, GM, and Toyota as industry profits collapse. U.S. auto manufacturers made just $114 million in Q2 2025 on $229 billion in revenue (one of their weakest quarters in 15 years) largely due to soaring import duties on parts and materials. Tariffs on imported passenger vehicles have exploded to $12.97 billion this year, up from just $1.97 billion a year ago. Analysts say the move signals an admission that tariffs have backfired-raising domestic costs, squeezing margins, and undermining U.S. competitiveness.
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Over the past few weeks, it’s become obvious we’re at a turning point in trucking.
Paul-Bernard Jaroslawski
We’ve already seen it with the non-domiciled CDL freeze and the new English-speaking requirements. ICE has been active at weigh stations, detaining drivers who don’t meet the standards. And while the number of drivers actually arrested so far is small, the fear in the market is real.
Antonije Kovačević
Craig Fuller reported that brokers are struggling to cover loads at last week’s prices. J.P. Hampstead confirmed the same, it’s getting harder to find trucks at market rates.
On X, @thewastedyears tweeted that he booked a load from Iowa to Tennessee for $4,000 when DAT’s market average showed $2,300-2500.
Still, as Ken Adamo (@thefreightnerd) pointed out on FreightX, it’s too early to call this a rebound:
“Context is important. The market is still very much in a tough spot and these increases are both modest and, in many cases, isolated to certain lanes and markets. It also coincides with EOM/EOQ, which wrapped last week. Let’s give the market a minute to see what trends persist.”
In other words, some of this bump might just be end-of-month noise, the kind of short-term pressure we see during roadcheck week or after a big storm. But the fear ripple is still spreading fast, and that’s what’s driving rates higher.
That’s just the start. And in my opinion, the next big thing the administration goes after will be ELD manipulation.
A trucker went viral on Instagram this week showing how some carriers are bypassing the ELD clock using systems run out of Eastern Europe.
The way he described it: when a driver runs out of hours, they just call the “ELD provider,” and within minutes, their drive time resets. A clean slate. No rest. No log violation.
This isn’t new, it’s been happening since 2017, when the ELD mandate came in. But now it’s getting attention because the market’s finally watching. And the truth is, a lot of people knew. Dispatchers, drivers, even brokers. It’s been an open secret.
The problem? It’s been distorting the market for years.
Carriers running illegally can take cheaper loads because they run longer miles. Meanwhile, the carriers playing by the rules get punished.
So if the administration’s serious about cleaning up the industry, ELD manipulation is the next logical step. Once they go after these offshore ELD companies (and they will) we’ll see another major capacity shift.
The ones doing it right (running clean, paying drivers fairly, staying compliant) will finally have room to breathe.
The Wild West era of trucking might finally be ending. And honestly… it’s about time.
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📈 Cargo Theft On 60 Minutes. Keith Lewis, a former cop who runs operations for Verisk CargoNet, was interviewed on 60 minutes recently to discuss the 1,200% rise in remote cargo redirection thefts over the past four years.
⚓ Houston Port Expansion. Houston’s $1.9 billion Project 11 will widen and deepen the Ship Channel, enabling larger vessels and fueling rapid industrial growth. The project will supports 1.5 million Texas jobs and expanding warehouse demand and other port enhancements.
🛑 New Mexico Pauses CDLs. New Mexico temporarily halted CDL and CLP issuance to certain non-domiciled foreign applicants. Officials cited compliance reviews tied to the recent federal crackdown on fraudulent commercial licensing. Texas, California, Oregon and South Carolina are other states that have taken similar actions.
📉 Earnings Outlook Cut. Morgan Stanley cut earnings forecasts for truckload and LTL carriers, citing weaker freight demand and strong freight shipments in July in order to get ahead of the current tariff implementation. Analysts expect volumes to stay below seasonal norms into early 2026.
📜 Bill Targets Illegal Drivers. A new congressional proposal would bar foreign nationals without legal status from operating commercial trucks in the U.S., introducing stricter verification rules for carriers employing non-citizen drivers.
🎣THE FREIGHT CAVIAR CORNER
FREIGHT HUMOR
Two bills just dropped in the Senate that could reshape trucking faster than anything since deregulation. Plus: Russian hackers targeted your load board, flatbed rejection rates just hit 40%, and a robot is taking the Houston-Dallas overnight run.
This week: The Dalilah Law, a trucking bankruptcy that wiped out thousands overnight, a FreightGuard civil war on Reddit, and the payroll data that's predicting Q4 capacity.
Indiana pulled the trigger on carriers employing illegal CDL holders. Plus: tariff ruling could flood LA with imports, DC finally moves on double brokers, spot rates are outrunning contract, and more.
The Supreme Court ruled Trump's tariffs illegal. Plus: an Illinois official took $300K and handed out illegal CDLs, cartel violence may affect your Mexico freight, 550 CDL schools just got shut down, and more.
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