Borderlands Mexico: Tariff noise to stay loud in 2026, Flexport warns importers

Borderlands Mexico is a weekly rundown of developments in the world of United States-Mexico cross-border trucking and trade. This week in Borderlands Mexico: Tariff noise to stay loud in 2026, Flexport warns importers; Echo Global Logistics launches EchoXBorder; and LS Cable & System USA opens logistics hub near Port Houston.

Tariff noise to stay loud in 2026, Flexport warns importers

Global logistics provider Flexport expects trade policy volatility to persist in 2026, but warned importers not to equate aggressive tariff announcements with the actual duties they will pay.

During a recent “Tariff Trends 2026” webinar on Thursday, Flexport executives said the Trump administration has repeatedly paired headline-grabbing tariff proposals with delays, carve-outs and exemptions that soften their impact on consumer prices and supply chains.

“I think tariffs will continue, but I think … they’re going to be restrained compared to the rhetoric [from the Trump administration],” said Marcus Eeman, Flexport’s director of customs.

Flexport highlighted several 2025 examples where proposed tariff hikes were scaled back or paused, including delayed Section 232 increases on furniture, expanded exemptions under reciprocal tariffs, and sharp reductions in anti-dumping duties on Italian pasta.

Eeman said trade policy decisions increasingly reflect sensitivity around food, fuel, housing and healthcare — areas he described as political red lines for the administration.

“They don’t want to see a very common staple food in every household in America, all of a sudden having to go up in price,” Eeman said. “Another area we’re seeing there’s a Section 301 [tariffs] finding on Chinese semiconductors that would have increased it above the existing 50% rate, but the Trump Administration delayed tariffs for 18 months on that.”

That restraint has also been visible in North American trade. As of late summer, roughly 85% of U.S. imports from Mexico and Canada entered duty-free under USMCA, according to Flexport — though claims are drawing heavier scrutiny from customs auditors.

A central risk for 2026 is the pending Supreme Court decision on tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).

On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court deferred its ruling on whether President Donald Trump overstepped legal authority by using IEEPA to levy sweeping import duties on more than 90 global trade partners.

Jenn Park, Flexport’s director of trade advisory, outlined scenarios ranging from full validation of the tariffs to retroactive refunds.

“If retroactive relief is allowed, importers need to be prepared before a ruling comes down,” Park said.

Flexport urged companies to identify IEPA-affected entries, monitor liquidation timelines and ensure entry data is accurate — noting that missed deadlines could permanently eliminate refund opportunities.

Even if some tariffs are struck down, Flexport said enforcement by U.S. Customs and Border Protection is accelerating. CBP has hired more auditors and increased scrutiny of valuation, tariff stacking and USMCA claims.

Eeman also cautioned against switching to Delivered Duty Paid (DDP) terms as a way to blunt tariffs.

“The only way DDP actually ‘saves’ money is if something improper is happening,” he said, warning that undervaluation and misclassification are now priority targets for enforcement.

Eeman and Park said they expect tariffs to remain a central trade tool in 2026, even if IEEPA authority is narrowed, as other mechanisms — including Sections 232 and 301 — remain available.

The company’s message to importers: expect continued volatility, tighter compliance oversight and fewer shortcuts.

“Tariffs aren’t going away,” Eeman said. “The final thing you should continue to expect is CBP enforcement is going to increase. We know that CBP officers all across the ports of entry have hired more auditors. As far as I know, every single port of entry has more CBP auditing officers in desks.”

Echo Global Logistics launches EchoXBorder

Echo Global Logistics has launched EchoXBorder, a cross-border customs brokerage offering designed to support freight moving between the U.S. and Mexico.

The service expands Echo’s decade-long cross-border operations and follows recent growth in Mexico, including offices in Mexico City and Monterrey. EchoXBorder integrates customs brokerage with Echo’s existing freight network, offering clearance at major land ports, airports and seaports across both countries.

Echo said the platform is aimed at reducing delays and improving visibility for shippers navigating increasingly complex trade and compliance requirements. The service includes consolidation and deconsolidation at the border, inventory control, and end-to-end customs and freight management, supported by bilingual compliance specialists and real-time shipment tracking.

Echo Global Logistics is a Chicago-based third party logistics provider with cross-border facilities in Mexico City, Monterrey and Guadalajara, Mexico; along with a major site in Laredo, Texas.

LS Cable & System USA opens logistics hub near Port Houston

LS Cable & System USA has opened a logistics hub in La Porte, Texas, near Houston, expanding its U.S. distribution footprint to support rising demand for high-capacity electrical infrastructure, according to a news release.

The facility, located within the Port Crossing Commerce Center near Port Houston, is designed to enhance distribution capacity and shorten lead times for LS Cable’s rapidly growing bus duct business, serving data centers, industrial facilities and large commercial projects.

Company executives said the site’s proximity to major transportation corridors and port infrastructure will improve inventory management and customer responsiveness as demand accelerates from data center expansion tied to artificial intelligence and cloud computing.

Warehouses empty in December

Chart of the Week: Logistics Managers’ Index – Inventory Levels, Warehouse Utilization SONAR: LMI.INVL, LMI.WHUT

After a year of pulling goods into the country in an effort to navigate tariffs and reduce exposure to trade policy uncertainty, companies allowed inventory levels to fall at the fastest pace of the past decade. This is by far the most interesting supply chain development to start the year, as it offers meaningful insight into what may lie ahead for the remainder of 2026.

The Logistics Managers’ Index (LMI) measures multiple components of the supply chain, including inventory levels (INVL) and warehouse utilization (WHUT). Readings are reported on a scale from 1 to 100, with values above 50 indicating expansion and below 50 indicating contraction. Importantly, these figures represent rates of change rather than absolute levels.

The latest December reading for inventory levels came in at 35.1, signaling the fastest drawdown of goods in the history of the index, which began in late 2016. Warehouse utilization also fell to an all-time low of 42.9, reinforcing the view that businesses are actively clearing their facilities.

Trade policy uncertainty remains elevated, as the Supreme Court has yet to rule on the legality of the IEEPA tariffs, which account for roughly $131 billion of the $253 billion in tariff revenue collected to date.

Some businesses may have incorporated the expectation of a ruling into their replenishment decisions. However, the data does little to support this explanation, as import demand appears slightly higher than it was in 2023, when inventories were bloated and being drawn down. Regardless, it represents yet another reason for firms to delay new orders into the New Year.

Perhaps the biggest takeaway is that businesses appear to be shifting back toward a pure just-in-time inventory model, away from the more defensive early- or over-ordering strategies that characterized much of the past year.

Leaner inventories increase dependence on transportation services and, critically, their reliability. The challenge is that transportation providers—particularly truckload carriers and 3PLs—have also been managing lean operations to control costs after several years of demand lagging supply.

As a result, carrier networks are now relatively thin and less capable of responding to sharp changes in market conditions, even when overall demand remains subdued. The SONAR Tender Rejection Index (STRI), which measures carrier compliance, jumped from 6.3% in mid-November to over 13% during the Christmas period—the highest level since April 2022 and nearly 400 basis points above 2024 levels.

As of January 8, the STRI remained above 10.5%, despite a period when capacity should typically be easier to secure. The market has increasingly struggled to normalize after holiday disruptions, supporting the idea that there is less buffer available within carrier networks.

On last week’s Freightonomics podcast, LMI co-author Dr. Zac Rogers noted that thinner inventories could create a greater sense of urgency around shipping. Many upstream firms are already anticipating meaningful challenges in securing transportation capacity in the year ahead.

While many remain hesitant to call for a full transportation market flip given relatively weak demand, supply-side conditions are already primed. Shippers may be forced into a more reactive operating environment driven by cost pressures and economic uncertainty. In this context, it may not take strong demand growth for the market to turn.

About the Chart of the Week

The FreightWaves Chart of the Week is a chart selection from SONAR that provides an interesting data point to describe the state of the freight markets. A chart is chosen from thousands of potential charts on SONAR to help participants visualize the freight market in real time. Each week a Market Expert will post a chart, along with commentary, live on the front page. After that, the Chart of the Week will be archived on FreightWaves.com for future reference.

SONAR aggregates data from hundreds of sources, presenting the data in charts and maps and providing commentary on what freight market experts want to know about the industry in real time.

Another Truckers Association Sues FMCSA Over CDL Freeze

The Chinese American Truckers Association filed a federal lawsuit this week challenging the enforcement actions that have left thousands of California commercial drivers in licensing limbo since late September.

The complaint, filed January 7 in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, names both federal and state officials as defendants. On the federal side, FMCSA Administrator Derek D. Barrs and the agency itself are in the crosshairs. California DMV Director Steve Gordon is also named for his role in implementing what drivers are calling a bureaucratic nightmare.

The Backstory

This all traces back to September 26, 2025, when FMCSA issued what it called a “preliminary determination” ordering California to immediately pause all processing of non-domiciled commercial learner’s permits and commercial driver’s licenses. The agency cited deficiencies uncovered during its 2025 Annual Program Review.

The order required California to identify unexpired credentials issued in violation of federal standards, conduct an internal audit, void noncompliant licenses, and reissue corrected credentials that meet federal standards. The FMCSA gave the state 30 days to respond and said the resumption of normal processing would occur on a mutually agreed schedule.

That was almost four months ago. The pause remains in effect with no end date in sight.

What FMCSA Did Next

On November 13, 2025, the FMCSA doubled down with a “Conditional Determination” that expanded the scope of violations it considered. The agency took the position that any post-pause licensing activity by California constituted noncompliance with the corrective action directive.

Here’s where it gets interesting. According to the complaint, the FMCSA criticized California for processing certain license upgrades after the pause began, specifically citing an incident in which removing an intrastate restriction from a driver’s license allegedly led to a fatal crash. The agency’s position was that if California had fully complied with the pause, the driver would not have had an interstate CDL, and the crash “may have been avoided.”

That’s FMCSA using a single incident to justify the broadest possible interpretation of what the pause should cover.

The agency also warned that California’s failure to complete corrective actions, or any “undue delay,” would result in a Final Determination of substantial noncompliance. That determination would trigger withholding of federal highway funds and potential decertification of California’s entire CDL program.

California’s Response Created Two Problems

The DMV implemented the pause as directed, but the complaint alleges the state agency went further in ways that are now stranding qualified drivers.

The first problem involves renewal and extension processing. Drivers with expiring non-domiciled CDLs cannot renew, replace, or extend their licenses, even when they have current eligibility documentation. The DMV has adopted a blanket refusal policy, creating what the lawsuit calls a rolling “expiration cliff” in which more drivers lose the ability to work each passing week.

The second problem is worse. Starting in November 2025, the DMV began issuing mass cancellation notices to drivers whose CDL expiration dates do not align perfectly with their Employment Authorization Document expiration dates. The complaint details how these date mismatches are often the DMV’s own administrative errors from years of issuing licenses with validity periods that did not match work authorization documentation.

The DMV is now canceling licenses based on its own past mistakes and giving drivers no meaningful path to fix the problem.

Real Drivers, Real Harm

The lawsuit includes declarations from multiple CATA members across Southern California counties showing how this plays out in practice.

One Los Angeles County driver had his vehicle stolen in December 2025, resulting in the loss of his physical CDL, EAD, Social Security card, and bank cards. His license remains valid through August 2029 and his work authorization runs through December 2029. Because of the categorical pause, he cannot obtain a replacement license. The man faces a total loss of livelihood over a theft he was not responsible for.

A San Bernardino County driver whose CDL was scheduled to expire January 2, 2026, received a cancellation notice in November 202,5, giving him 60 days. The DMV later announced a 60-day extension, pushing cancellations to March 6, 2026, but provided no mechanism for renewal before expiration. His CDL expired on January 2 and became invalid. Without a court order, he has permanently lost his livelihood.

Another driver from Orange County presents an even more absurd situation. His CDL was set to expire January 20, 2026. He holds work authorization valid through January 2030. He received an official renewal notice in October 2025, followed by a cancellation notice in November stating that his license would be cancelled by January 5, 2026. The DMV’s December extension announcement purportedly pushed cancellations to March 6, but the agency provided no administrative mechanism to actually renew his license. His CDL will expire on January 20, despite the supposed extension.

A Riverside County driver holds a valid CDL expiring October 2030 and work authorization through September 2029. He received a cancellation notice in November 2025 alleging his CDL expiration date exceeded his authorized stay period. The problem? He presented the exact EAD the DMV required at the time of issuance. The date discrepancy was created entirely by DMV systems and processes, not by any misconduct on his part.

The complaint includes similar stories from drivers in Los Angeles, San Bernardino, and Riverside counties, each demonstrating how bureaucratic errors are being used to strip qualified drivers of their credentials.

What The Association Actually Wants

This is not a lawsuit seeking to blow up federal oversight of state CDL programs. The Chinese American Truckers Association explicitly states that it does not challenge the FMCSA’s general oversight authority and is not seeking the broad resumption of non-domiciled issuance during corrective actions.

What they want is narrow and targeted. The association seeks what it calls a “safe lane,” allowing California to accept and process individualized renewal, replacement, and extension requests from otherwise-qualified drivers who can demonstrate current eligibility and valid lawful presence documentation.

Separately, they seek relief for drivers facing date-certain cancellations due to alleged administrative mismatches. These drivers have valid credentials and valid work authorization. The only problem is a date discrepancy created by DMV systems, not driver fraud or misconduct.

The requested relief would not permit any driver to operate beyond verified lawful presence documentation validity. It would not alter training, testing, or safety qualification requirements. It would simply allow individual processing for qualified drivers during the indefinite enforcement pause.

The Legal Claims

The complaint asserts four causes of action.

The first three target FMCSA and Administrator Barrs under the Administrative Procedure Act. The association argues the agency exceeded its statutory authority by expanding the concept of a “pause” beyond what federal law requires, using threatened sanctions to coerce California into the broadest possible interpretation that prevents even narrowly tailored individual processing.

The fourth claim targets the DMV Director, Gordon, under the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause. The association argues that the categorical refusal to process renewal or extension requests and the mismatch-driven cancellation notices deprive drivers of protected interests without constitutionally adequate notice or an opportunity to be heard.

This lawsuit represents the first organized legal pushback against enforcement actions that have affected an unknown number of California commercial drivers since September. The association’s membership continues to grow as additional affected drivers learn about the case.

FMCSA has positioned its enforcement as necessary to address deficiencies in California’s non-domiciled licensing program. The agency’s conditional determination made clear that substantial noncompliance findings could result in withholding federal highway funds.

But the drivers caught in the middle are not the ones who designed California’s licensing systems or made administrative decisions about credential validity periods. They are working drivers who followed the rules as they existed and now find themselves unable to work through no fault of their own.

The case has been assigned to the Central District of California. No hearing dates have been set as of publication.

Dragon in the Cab: How China Quietly Embedded Itself in American Trucking

In January 2008, the American Trucking Associations rolled out the red carpet for a delegation from the China Road Transport Association.

The visitors, representing the Highway Transportation Administration Bureau, Beijing XiangLong Assets Management, and Guangxi Wuzhou Communications, spent two days meeting with ATA leadership and major carriers, including Con-way Freight, Roadway, and RoadLink. The agenda covered operations, truck safety regulations, driver training, federal and state tax structures, and environmental regulations.

“We are all part of a burgeoning global economy,” ATA President Bill Graves said at the time. “The Chinese understand that their national economy is directly linked to freight transportation and a supporting national infrastructure.”

The Chinese delegation was eager to learn how American trucking evolved from localized operations into a streamlined national and international logistics engine.

Seventeen years later, that friendly exchange looks different in hindsight.

The Pentagon Wakes Up

On January 2, 2025, the Department of Defense updated its list of “Chinese Military Companies” operating in the United States, adding COSCO Shipping, the fourth-largest ocean carrier in the world, along with its North American subsidiary and its Hong Kong-based financial branch.

The designation came under Section 1260H of the National Defense Authorization Act, which requires the Pentagon to identify companies linked to China’s People’s Liberation Army. COSCO was tagged because it transports military goods for the PLA and has participated in military drills preparing for a potential invasion of Taiwan.

COSCO operates joint venture container terminals at the ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach, and Seattle. The company moved nearly 40 million TEUs to and from U.S. ports. And according to a MITRE analysis published in February 2024, Chinese companies own or operate terminals in 100 ports across 60 countries.

Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries Company, known as ZPMC, manufactures 70 percent of container cranes globally. Those cranes constitute 80 percent of the cranes in U.S. ports, including 10 Strategic Seaports designated by the Department of Defense for military deployments.

Then there’s LOGINK, China’s National Transportation and Logistics Public Information Platform. According to MITRE, global adoption of LOGINK provides the Chinese government with “significant visibility into shipping and supply chains, providing opportunities to spot vulnerabilities and track shipments of U.S. military cargo on commercial freight.”

The Chinese government can track U.S. military cargo moving on commercial freight.

The Farmland Problem

While the ports were being quietly penetrated, a parallel operation was underway across rural America.

In 2021, the Fufeng Group, a Chinese company with documented ties to the Chinese Communist Party, purchased 370 acres of farmland near Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota. According to the United States-China Economic and Security Review Commission, Grand Forks has exceptional intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities, making the purchased land an ideal location for monitoring and intercepting military activity.

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States determined it could not evaluate the transaction for national security risks because the Department of Defense had not listed the base as a sensitive site.

That gap has since been addressed, partially addressed. CFIUS rules now require approval for foreign purchases within 100 miles of the most sensitive military installations.

Chinese companies own nearly 10,000 acres of farmland in Polk County, Florida, near MacDill Air Force Base. Another 277 acres sit in San Diego County near Camp Pendleton. A Chinese energy company subsidiary bought land near Laughlin Air Force Base, the Air Force’s largest pilot training facility in southern Texas.

In May 2024, CFIUS forced a Chinese company called MineOne to divest its holdings in a crypto mining operation located within a mile of a Wyoming air base, but only after receiving a “public tip” about the purchase.

The legislative response is gaining momentum. The PASS Act, led by Senator Mike Rounds with support from Senate Majority Leader John Thune, would ban individuals and entities controlled by China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea from purchasing agricultural land near military installations. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins has said stopping Chinese farmland purchases near bases is at the “very, very top” of her priorities.

So, who is hauling America’s defense freight?

While Congress debates farmland restrictions and the Pentagon updates its blacklists, the evidence that our commercial driver vetting system has catastrophic gaps is piling up on American highways.

On December 9, 2025, a 54-year-old Chinese national named Yisong Huang rear-ended a tractor-trailer on I-40 in Tennessee while watching a video on his phone. The chain-reaction crash killed Kerry Smith, a 31-year-old American trucker. When the Tennessee Highway Patrol administered an English proficiency test, Huang failed it.

Huang entered the United States illegally through Mexico in 2023. He admitted to Border Patrol agents that he was a Chinese citizen who had crossed unlawfully. The Biden administration released him anyway and handed him work authorization papers and a Social Security card. Eight months before he killed Kerry Smith, New York issued him a Class B commercial driver’s license.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy didn’t mince words. “Joe Biden let millions of migrants flood into our country illegally,” he said. “His administration doled out the documentation these unqualified foreign drivers needed to obtain trucking licenses and operate 40-ton missiles on the highway.”

Duffy’s subsequent audit found that more than half of New York’s non-domiciled CDLs were issued illegally. He’s threatened to withhold $73 million in federal highway funds unless New York revokes them. California faces similar pressure. Since June 2025, more than 9,500 drivers have been placed out of service for failing English proficiency requirements that were on the books but unenforced for nearly a decade.

The USPS just announced it will phase out contracted drivers holding non-domiciled CDLs who haven’t been vetted by the Postal Inspection Service. That’s federal mail. Somebody finally asked the question.

If a Chinese national can enter illegally, get work papers, obtain a CDL, and drive a commercial vehicle across state lines without anyone checking whether he can read a road sign, what’s stopping someone with actual ties to Chinese state interests from doing the same thing?

We’re pulling drivers off the road for not speaking English. We’re not pulling them off for connections to companies on the Pentagon’s Chinese Military Companies list.

The Defense Freight Transportation Services contract, a $2.3 billion program managed by Crowley Solutions, moves U.S. Government cargo from thousands of suppliers through more than 40 major depots across the continental United States, Alaska, and Canada. The program encompasses all forms of surface transportation: less-than-truckload, full truckload, expedited, time-definite, and rail services.

Crowley’s website proudly notes that “the secure and timely transportation of government freight can be vital to national security and mission-critical operations.” Do we actually know who’s driving those trucks?

DOD contractors handling classified information require security clearances. The Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency conducts background investigations, and foreign-owned entities face additional scrutiny under Foreign Ownership, Control, or Influence regulations.

What about the subcontractors? The owner-operators? The freight brokers who dispatch loads?

According to the National Defense Authorization Act of 2024, the Department of Defense is prohibited from directly procuring goods and services from entities on the 1260H Chinese Military Companies list, but that prohibition does not take full effect until June 2026. The indirect prohibition extends to June 2027.

That’s 18 more months where the supply chain remains largely unvetted for Chinese military connections.

According to reporting from the Pulitzer Center, Chinese immigrants make up less than 2.3 percent of the 3.5 million truck drivers in the United States. Many of these drivers are legal immigrants who came to America seeking better opportunities. They work long hours, face language barriers, and struggle with the same issues every truck driver faces.

This isn’t about demonizing immigrant drivers. It’s about asking a fundamental question: In an era when the Pentagon is blacklisting COSCO, restricting Chinese farmland purchases near military bases, and investigating Chinese-made port cranes for espionage capabilities, why aren’t we scrutinizing who physically moves our military cargo?

We require HAZMAT endorsements for drivers hauling dangerous goods. We require TWIC cards for port access. We conduct background checks for drivers handling certain types of freight.

Do we have any systematic process to ensure that drivers hauling DOD freight, even non-classified freight, aren’t connected to entities that the Pentagon has designated as Chinese military companies?

Connect the Dots

Chinese state-owned COSCO operates terminals at our biggest ports. Chinese-made ZPMC cranes, present at 10 Strategic Seaports, have raised espionage concerns serious enough to prompt Congressional legislation. Chinese logistics platform LOGINK can track military cargo shipments. Chinese companies have purchased land near air bases with intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities. And the ATA was teaching Chinese transportation officials how American trucking works back in 2008.

Meanwhile, the trucking industry faces a chronic driver shortage. Carriers are desperate for qualified CDL holders. And nobody is systematically asking who actually climbs into the cab to haul freight to and from military installations.

Section 805 of the 2024 NDAA will eventually prohibit DOD from procuring end products and services from Chinese military companies. Section 851 of the 2025 NDAA goes further, prohibiting DOD from contracting with any company that employs lobbyists for entities on the 1260H list.

But trucking, the actual movement of physical goods, operates in the shadows of these regulations. A freight broker can dispatch a load. A motor carrier can subcontract to an owner-operator. Unless that owner-operator is directly contracting with DOD, the vetting requirements are minimal.

What Needs to Happen

The Senate Banking Committee, under Chairman Tim Scott, has introduced the Protect Our Bases Act, which requires CFIUS member agencies to update their lists of sensitive sites annually. The legislation would ensure that foreign land purchases near military, intelligence, and national laboratory facilities receive proper scrutiny.

That’s a start. But we need the same level of attention on the transportation side.

DOD should require all carriers, including subcontractors and owner-operators, hauling military freight to certify that they have no connections to entities on the 1260H Chinese Military Companies list.

FMCSA should establish a registry of carriers approved for defense freight, with background check requirements that go beyond standard CDL vetting.

Congress should require the Transportation Secretary to serve as a permanent voting member of CFIUS for any transaction involving freight and logistics companies that have access to defense supply chains.

The trucking industry itself, starting with ATA, needs to acknowledge that the world has changed since 2008. China is no longer just a trading partner, learning from American logistics expertise. It’s a strategic competitor that has systematically embedded itself in our port infrastructure, our farmland, and potentially our freight networks.

We spend billions defending against cyber intrusions, foreign espionage, and supply chain vulnerabilities in semiconductors and telecommunications. But we’ve largely ignored the most basic vulnerability of all: the truck that pulls up to the loading dock at a military depot.

Every day, thousands of trucks move freight to and from DOD installations across America. We trust that those drivers are who they say they are. We trust that the carriers are legitimate. We trust that our adversaries haven’t found the simplest possible way to monitor, disrupt, or compromise our military logistics.

Maybe that trust is well-placed. Maybe the system is more secure than it appears.

Given everything we now know about Chinese penetration of American ports, farmland, and logistics platforms, shouldn’t we at least ask the question? Because right now, nobody seems to be asking.

Timeline: China and American Transportation Infrastructure

2008: ATA welcomes China Road Transport Association delegation; Chinese officials meet with Con-way Freight, Roadway, and RoadLink to study U.S. trucking operations

2020: Chinese energy company subsidiary purchases land near Laughlin Air Force Base in Texas

2021: Fufeng Group purchases 370 acres near Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota

2023: Biden administration issues new CFIUS rule requiring approval for foreign land purchases within 100 miles of sensitive military installations

2024 (February): MITRE publishes analysis warning of Chinese technology influence in U.S. seaports and visibility into military cargo shipments

2024 (May): CFIUS forces Chinese company MineOne to divest crypto mining operation near Wyoming air base

2025 (January 2): Pentagon adds COSCO Shipping to Section 1260H Chinese Military Companies list

2025 (January): PASS Act gains Senate support to ban Chinese farmland purchases near military bases

2026 (June): DOD prohibition on directly procuring from 1260H entities takes effect

2027 (June): DOD prohibition on indirectly procuring from 1260H entities takes effect

Last mile provider FAST Group’s post-merger meltdown: PE-backer freezes fund amid financial red flags

In the fast-paced world of e-commerce logistics, mergers are often hailed as game-changers, promising synergies, expanded networks, and economies of scale. But for FAST Group—the entity born from the August 2025 merger of Australian parcel delivery firm Sendle, U.S.-based FirstMile, and ACI Logistix—the honeymoon was short-lived. Just months after the deal closed, Sydney-based Federation Asset Management (Federation AM), a key investor in the venture, froze redemptions in its $100 million Federation Alternatives Investment Fund II, citing a crisis at FAST Group that has exposed due diligence lapses, financial discrepancies, and the specter of bankruptcy.

The fallout underscores broader risks in the freight and logistics sector, where rapid consolidation driven by e-commerce demand can mask underlying operational and financial vulnerabilities. As freight volumes fluctuate amid economic uncertainty and supply chain disruptions, this case serves as a cautionary tale for investors and operators alike.

The Merger: A Bold Bet on E-Commerce Shipping

FAST Group was formed on August 7, 2025, through the strategic combination of three logistics players, each bringing complementary strengths to the table. Headquartered in California, the new holding company aimed to create a “dynamic ecosystem” for e-commerce shipping, serving everything from small businesses to enterprise clients across the U.S., Australia, Canada, India, and the Philippines. The company was a leader in last mile delivery services and partnered with companies like DoorDash to complete delivery.

Sendle: Founded in Australia, Sendle specialized in affordable, carbon-neutral parcel delivery for small e-commerce sellers. Backed by investors including Federation AM, Touch Ventures, Rampersand, and King River Capital, it had raised over $100 million in funding rounds since 2019, with estimated annual revenues around $32.5 million pre-merger.
FirstMile: A Salt Lake City-based firm focused on mid-market shipping optimization, with national parcel pickup infrastructure and revenues pegged at about $75 million.
ACI Logistix: The Long Beach, California veteran with over 60 years in national parcel logistics, automation, and direct-to-consumer delivery, reporting revenues between $23.6 million and $100 million, depending on sources.

The merger was positioned as a win-win: Sendle’s tech platform and international reach would integrate with FirstMile’s pickup networks and ACI’s sortation facilities, offering customers expanded services without disrupting existing brands. Keith Somers, former CEO of ACI Logistix, took the helm as FAST Group’s CEO, with a board drawing from all three entities. Federation AM, which had been a major stakeholder in Sendle, rolled its investment into a minority position in the new group and provided backing for the venture.

Combined, FAST Group boasted an estimated 300-900 employees and $130-200 million in annual revenues, positioning it as a mid-tier player in a market dominated by giants like UPS, FedEx, and Amazon Logistics. But beneath the optimism, cracks were already forming.

The Crisis Unfolds: Due Diligence Gaps and Financial Deficiencies

The trouble surfaced publicly on December 12, 2025, when Federation AM notified investors via email that it was suspending redemptions from its Fund II—a vehicle targeting 20% annualized returns over five years. The fund, which held about 64% of its capital in FAST Group, cited “significant deficiencies” in ACI Logistix’s financial statements discovered post-merger. Questions arose about the accuracy of information disclosed during due diligence, prompting Federation’s deal team to scrutinize the acquisition process.

In the weeks following the merger, Federation injected $12 million in emergency operating capital into FAST Group to stabilize operations. This was followed by swift leadership changes: the CFO was replaced, and a chief restructuring officer was appointed to oversee turnaround efforts. Despite these moves, the company has been scrambling to secure up to $60 million in debt financing from hedge funds and distressed debt specialists. Sources indicate that potential lenders are eyeing acquisitions of existing debt at steep discounts—around 50 cents on the dollar—highlighting the perceived risk. Adding to the financial pressures, sources have told FreightWaves that FAST owes DoorDash $20 million dollars, potentially related to unpaid obligations from last-mile delivery partnerships.

The fund’s exposure was amplified by its mandate, which lacked limits on investment size in individual targets, allowing such heavy concentration in FAST Group. Zenith Investment Partners, which had given the fund a “recommended” rating, placed it under review amid the turmoil.

As of January 10, 2026, no resolution has been announced. FAST Group faces the real possibility of filing for U.S. bankruptcy protection if financing falls through, which could trigger legal battles over asset recovery. For Federation AM, managing $23 billion in assets overall, this represents a reputational hit but not an existential threat. However, it raises eyebrows about the firm’s risk management in private equity-style investments in logistics tech.

Former, current USA Truck execs acquire TL carrier from DSV

blurred photo of a USA Truck tractor-trailer passing through a tunnel at night

Arkansas-based truckload carrier, USA Truck, has been acquired by a group of its current and former leaders from Danish freight forwarder DSV.

Financial terms of the transaction, which closed on Friday, were not disclosed.

The group includes current CEO George Henry and Zachary King, its former chief financial officer. Henry will continue to lead the day-to-day operations, with King stepping back in as the acting CFO. James Reed, former USA Truck CEO, is part of the group and will act in an advisory capacity.

Reed is currently the chairman of autonomous trucking company Kodiak AI and is an operating partner at private equity firm Banner Capital.

The three acquired USA Truck under an Arkansas-based entity called UTAC, LLC. The change to private domestic ownership will provide the company with additional flexibility to pursue growth.

“I want to start by expressing my sincere gratitude to DSV for their engagement since the acquisition of DB Schenker and unwavering support throughout this process,” Henry said in a news release. “The extensive knowledge and global supply chain insights gained under two of the world’s leading freight forwarders are now a permanent part of our operational DNA.”

DSV announced in October that it was shopping USA Truck, which it picked up when it acquired DB Schenker. The Danish forwarder said the asset-based operation no longer fit with its mostly asset-light offering. (Schenker acquired USA Truck for $435 million in 2022.)

The Schenker acquisition capped a turnaround at USA Truck. It was operating at a loss during the 2019 freight recession and early on in the pandemic. The company decided to cull the fleet by 10%, which helped improve asset utilization and reduce its reliance on the spot market.

The carrier returned to profitability by the back half of 2020. It posted an 87% adjusted operating ratio in its TL segment in the 2022 first quarter (the last period reported before the transaction was announced). It also reduced debt leverage from more than 4 times adjusted EBITDA to 1.7 times.

The carrier currently operates a fleet of 1,800 trucks and 6,000 trailers. It also touts an expansive logistics offering.

“To our phenomenal employees and customers, who have been steadfast partners throughout this journey, I am eternally indebted,” said Henry. “Welcome home, USA Truck!”

More FreightWaves articles by Todd Maiden:

North Carolina’s 54% CDL Failure Rate Exposes Licensing Rot

When Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced Thursday that 54% of North Carolina’s non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses failed federal review, the number landed like a gut punch to an industry already reeling from systemic failures in state licensing programs. Of the 50 CDLs FMCSA auditors examined, 27 were issued in direct violation of federal regulations. Nearly $50 million in federal highway funding now hangs in the balance.

None of this should surprise anyone who’s been paying attention. The non-domiciled CDL program has been a ticking time bomb for years, and we in the compliance world have watched it with growing alarm as state after state treated federal requirements like suggestions rather than law.

According to the FMCSA’s audit findings, North Carolina’s Division of Motor Vehicles committed violations in three categories that should concern every fleet operator and safety-conscious driver. Nineteen of the 27 problematic licenses were issued with expiration dates that extended beyond the driver’s lawful presence documentation, meaning drivers could legally operate 80,000-pound rigs on American highways long after their authorization to be in the country had expired.

Another eight licenses were issued without documentation verifying the state’s verification of lawful presence. No Employment Authorization Document on file. No passport with I-94. A CDL was handed over without the basic verification steps required by federal law. Two additional licenses went to Mexican citizens who weren’t covered under DACA, which is the only pathway for Canadian or Mexican nationals to obtain a non-domiciled CDL, since reciprocity agreements allow drivers from those countries to operate in cross-border freight with their home-country licenses.

In their response, the North Carolina DMV said it is “committed to upholding safety and integrity in our licensing processes” and has been “collaborating closely with our federal partners for several months.” That language should sound familiar; it’s the same boilerplate we’ve heard from California, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, and every other state caught with their hand in the compliance cookie jar.

To understand how we got here, you have to understand August 12, 2025. That’s the day Harjinder Singh, a 28-year-old Indian national operating on a California-issued non-domiciled CDL, attempted an illegal U-turn through an “Official Use Only” access point on Florida’s Turnpike near Fort Pierce. His tractor-trailer blocked all northbound lanes. A minivan had no time to react. Three people died instantly.

Singh had entered the country illegally in 2018, was processed for expedited removal, claimed asylum, and was eventually released on bond. Despite having his work authorization rejected during the first Trump administration in September 2020, he obtained a new Employment Authorization Document in April 2025. California issued him a non-domiciled CDL in July 2024. A month before the fatal crash, he was pulled over for speeding in New Mexico, body camera footage shows him struggling to communicate in English, yet no English Language Proficiency assessment was administered.

Then came October 21, 2025, when another driver,21-year-old Jashanpreet Singh, also from India, allegedly drove his semi-truck under the influence of drugs into stopped traffic on California’s I-10 in Ontario, killing three more people. The Department of Transportation later determined that California had upgraded his CDL just days before the crash, even after the federal emergency rule had been issued specifically prohibiting such actions for asylum seekers.

These weren’t isolated incidents. FMCSA identified at least five fatal crashes involving non-domiciled CDL holders in 2025 alone. That’s five crashes too many when the root cause is administrative negligence.

For those outside the regulatory weeds, here’s the crash course. Under 49 U.S.C. Section 31311, states can issue commercial driver’s licenses to individuals who are neither citizens nor permanent residents, people “not domiciled” in the United States. This pathway was specifically designed for drivers from countries that don’t have CDL testing and licensing standards equivalent to ours. Canadian and Mexican nationals are explicitly excluded because their home-country CDLs are already recognized through reciprocity agreements.

Before the September 2025 emergency rule, the requirements were straightforward: provide an unexpired Employment Authorization Document or an unexpired foreign passport with an I-94 form documenting your most recent entry. States were supposed to verify this documentation before issuing the CDL and ensure the license expiration didn’t exceed the driver’s lawful presence authorization.

The problem? States weren’t doing the verification. Programming errors in DMV systems allowed licenses to be issued with incorrect expiration dates. Staff training was inadequate. Quality control was nonexistent. The result was approximately 200,000 non-domiciled CDLs active nationwide, about 5% of all CDL holders, with an unknown but clearly substantial portion issued in violation of the rules.

North Carolina is the ninth state to face FMCSA enforcement action since Duffy launched the nationwide audit in June 2025. California’s 25% non-compliance rate earned it nearly $200 million in withheld funding. Pennsylvania, Minnesota, New York, Texas, South Dakota, Colorado, and Washington have all been put on notice. Tennessee proactively launched its own review and is notifying 8,800 of its 150,000 CDL holders that they need to provide proof of citizenship or valid visa status.

North Carolina’s 54% failure rate stands out. It’s the worst in the nation. More than half of the licenses reviewed were improperly issued. This is systemic failure at scale.

Records show 924 non-domiciled CDLs remain unexpired in North Carolina. If the audit sample is representative, and there’s no reason to think it isn’t, that means roughly 500 drivers on North Carolina roads right now may be operating illegally issued licenses.

If you’re a fleet operator with non-domiciled CDL holders on your payroll, the time to act was yesterday. FMCSA has made clear that states must immediately pause issuance of non-domiciled CDLs, identify all noncompliant licenses, and revoke or reissue them if the driver can meet the new federal requirements. That process will create chaos in driver qualification files across the country.

Start auditing your driver files now. Verify visa classifications, CDL expiration dates, and SAVE system verification status for every non-domiciled driver. Update your hiring and onboarding policies to flag applicants who may no longer qualify. Train your compliance teams on the new verification procedures.

The September 2025 emergency rule, currently stayed by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals pending review, would limit non-domiciled CDLs to holders of H-2A, H-2B, or E-2 visas. That would exclude DACA recipients, asylum seekers, refugees, and individuals with Temporary Protected Status. The DOT estimates this would affect 97% of non-domiciled CDL holders, potentially removing 194,000 drivers from the market if the rule takes effect.

Immigrant drivers make up nearly 20% of the American trucking workforce. The vast majority are hardworking professionals who followed the rules, obtained their licenses legally, and keep freight moving every day. They deserve better than to be painted with the same brush as a broken state bureaucracy that couldn’t be bothered to follow its own procedures.

The Sikh Coalition and Asian Law Caucus have filed lawsuits arguing that immigrant truckers are being unfairly targeted. They have a point about selective enforcement and public perception. When a non-immigrant driver causes a fatal crash, we rarely see immigration status mentioned in the headline. When it’s an immigrant driver, it becomes the story.

This isn’t about immigration policy. It’s about licensing integrity. The federal government established requirements for non-domiciled CDLs. States agreed to follow those requirements in exchange for federal highway funding. They didn’t follow them. People died. That’s the story.

North Carolina failed 54% of the time. California failed 25% of the time. These are compliance failures that put families in danger. The guy in the pickup truck heading home to his kids after work doesn’t care about the political implications. He just wants to know that the driver in the next lane actually passed a legitimate skills test and can read a road sign.

Secretary Duffy has outlined clear corrective actions for North Carolina: immediately pause issuance, identify all noncompliant licenses, revoke and reissue where appropriate, and conduct a comprehensive internal audit to find out how the system broke down. It’s the same playbook being applied across the country, and it’s the right approach.

Governor Josh Stein and North Carolina Department of Public Safety Commissioner Paul Tine have 30 days to demonstrate compliance or watch $50 million in federal funding evaporate. Given the political pressure and the national spotlight, expect them to move quickly.

The larger lesson here is one the industry has been learning the hard way for years: compliance isn’t optional. It’s not a cost center to minimize or a box to check. It’s the foundation of everything we do. When states cut corners on CDL issuance, when carriers skip driver qualification steps, and when everyone assumes someone else is handling it, people get hurt.

The non-domiciled CDL program was designed with good intentions. It gave qualified drivers from other countries a pathway to work legally in American trucking while ensuring they met our standards. That’s not a bad thing. What’s bad is when states treat the verification requirements as optional and then act surprised when FMCSA shows up with audit findings.

North Carolina is the latest state to learn that lesson. It won’t be the last.

The USPS Tells Contractors No More Immigrant CDL Drivers. Here’s How We Got Here.

The U.S. Postal Service announced this week that it will begin phasing out non-domiciled commercial driver’s license holders from its contractor network, requiring trucking providers to either thoroughly vet these drivers through the Postal Inspection Service or stop using them entirely. The move aligns with the Trump administration’s aggressive crackdown on immigrant drivers, but if you think this is just about immigration policy, you haven’t been paying attention to a decade of contractor scandals that have left bodies on American highways.

“The safety of our employees, our customers, and the American public is of the utmost concern to the Postal Service,” said Board of Governors Chairwoman Amber McReynolds in Monday’s announcement. “We have decided to phase out any use of non-domiciled Commercial Driver’s License operators who have not been thoroughly vetted by the Postal Inspection Service.”

The announcement came just days after USPS’s first attempt at implementing a similar ban collapsed spectacularly. In late October, the Postal Service tried to stop loading contractors using non-domiciled CDL drivers, and facilities across the network immediately ground to a halt. Pete Routsolias, USPS SVP of Logistics, told suppliers on a call that “we didn’t understand the magnitude of how many people were using non-domiciled CDLs, and quite honestly, the amount of omits was astronomical.” The policy was reversed within days.

This time, USPS is taking a phased approach. The underlying reality remains: the Postal Service moves 55,000 truckloads daily, nearly 2 billion miles per year, and a significant percentage of that capacity is now operating in legal limbo.

How USPS Got Here

To understand why USPS is suddenly taking driver vetting seriously, you have to understand how little vetting it was doing before. And there’s no better illustration than Beam Brothers Trucking.

Beam Brothers, based in Mount Crawford, Virginia, was one of the largest mail contractors in the country, operating across 17 states and serving nearly every major city east of the Mississippi. Over a decade, USPS paid them more than $500 million. They were, by every measure, a critical logistics partner.

They were also running one of the most brazen safety fraud operations in trucking history.

From 1999 to 2017, company leadership created routes that were physically impossible to complete legally. Drivers were instructed to falsify their records of duty status and time sheets. According to federal prosecutors, drivers became so fatigued that they could barely stay awake behind the wheel. On multiple occasions, Beam Brothers drivers nearly caused crashes when they momentarily fell asleep on public highways. One driver testified that he was given methamphetamine by colleagues to stay awake, and after three months of drug use, he could no longer physically operate the truck and had to call for medical rescue.

In 2017, a federal grand jury issued a 126-count indictment against CEO Gerald Beam, Vice President Garland Beam, Operations Manager Shaun Beam, and CFO Nickolas Kozel. The charges included conspiracy, falsifying records, wire fraud, and violations of the Service Contract Act. The government was seeking $40 million in judgments.

What happened next tells you everything you need to know about accountability in federal contracting. All four executives pleaded guilty to a single misdemeanor count of conspiring to violate highway safety regulations, essentially, an hours-of-service violation. No prison time. Gerald and Garland Beam were sentenced to six months of home confinement. Shaun Beam and Kozel each got three months. The company paid $2 million in forfeitures and $1 million in restitution to the drivers they’d defrauded.

Eagle Express Lines acquired Beam Brothers’ contracts. The mail kept moving. And USPS learned nothing.

The Body Count

A Wall Street Journal investigation in 2023 revealed something that should have been front-page news for weeks: USPS contractors had been involved in at least 68 fatal crashes that killed 79 people over a three-year period, and the Postal Service wasn’t even tracking it.

The agency that spends $5 billion annually on trucking contracts had no reporting mechanism requiring contractors to notify them when someone died. “They’re not even taking the time to find out,” Zach Cahalan, executive director of the Truck Safety Coalition, told the Journal.

The investigation found that 39 percent of trucking companies hauling U.S. mail violated hours-of-service rules at rates that triggered DOT red flags, compared to 13 percent of for-hire trucking firms generally. Nearly 50 long-haul mail contractors had safety records so poor that DOT had placed them on probation.

USPS kept hiring them anyway. The Postal Service’s contracting rules only required that trucking companies have a DOT safety rating better than “unsatisfactory”, meaning “conditional,” which is essentially probation, was good enough to win federal business. Most private shippers won’t touch conditional-rated carriers. USPS made them preferred vendors.

Consider Caminantes Trucking. In June 2022, one of their drivers, distracted and lacking a valid commercial license, slammed into a passenger vehicle on I-25 near Denver. Five people died, including a baby. Federal records showed it was the 16th time a Caminantes driver had been caught without proper credentials. Six people had died in crashes involving Caminantes trucks in the previous two years. USPS finally terminated the contract, but only after a local TV investigation made the connection public.

A 2024 OIG audit found that 43 different USPS contractors were involved in at least 373 crashes between 2018 and 2022, resulting in 89 deaths. The audit also found that the Postal Service “did not always know who was authorized to transport the mail” and “did not track contractor accidents and fatalities.”

This is the context in which USPS is now announcing it will phase out non-domiciled CDL drivers. They’re not doing this because they suddenly discovered the importance of driver vetting. They’re doing this because they’ve been publicly embarrassed into it, first by years of fatal crash investigations, and now by a Trump administration that has made non-domiciled CDLs a political flashpoint.

Secretary Duffy’s DOT and The Regulatory Hammer

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has made non-domiciled CDLs the centerpiece of his safety agenda, and whatever you think of the politics, his agency has uncovered genuine compliance failures that predate this administration.

In September 2025, FMCSA issued an emergency interim final rule that immediately restricted eligibility for non-domiciled CDLs. The rule requires employment-based visas and mandatory federal immigration status verification through the SAVE system. Work permits alone no longer qualify. States must pause issuance until they can demonstrate compliance. All renewals must happen in person.

Duffy didn’t mince words. “This is absolutely 100 percent broken,” he said of the licensing system for non-citizens. “This is a national emergency that requires action right now.”

FMCSA’s nationwide audit found systemic non-compliance across multiple states, with California emerging as the worst offender. More than 25 percent of non-domiciled CDLs sampled in California were improperly issued. In one case, a Brazilian driver received credentials allowing him to operate passenger and school buses, valid for months after his legal presence authorization had expired.

The agency identified at least five fatal crashes involving non-domiciled CDL holders since January 2025, including the Florida Turnpike U-turn crash, a Terrell, Texas, sleeping driver incident, and an I-35 crash involving a driver on depressants. “At least two of these drivers were improperly issued a CDL,” according to FMCSA’s rulemaking.

California has been fighting back. The DMV delayed cancellation of approximately 17,000 non-domiciled CDLs, prompting Duffy to threaten pulling $160 million in federal highway funding. The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals issued an administrative stay on the emergency rule in November, freezing implementation while legal challenges proceed.

The court stay only addresses the new restrictions on asylum seekers and certain visa categories. It doesn’t resolve the pre-existing compliance failures FMCSA documented, CDLs issued years beyond drivers’ lawful presence authorization, and licenses granted to Mexican nationals are prohibited from holding non-domiciled CDLs under existing reciprocity agreements. Those were already illegal under rules that existed before Trump took office.

The Capacity Question

FMCSA estimates that approximately 200,000 non-domiciled CDLs have been issued since the program expanded in 2019. The agency anticipates these drivers will exit the market within approximately two years as credentials come up for renewal.

That’s a staggering amount of capacity to remove from an already tight market. USPS’s October enforcement attempt proved just how dependent some carriers have become on non-domiciled drivers. When facilities started refusing to load trucks, the operational impact was immediate and severe.

“We don’t need non-domiciled CDL drivers to make sure our goods flow through the country,” Secretary Duffy said when asked about the driver shortage. That’s true as a policy matter. It’s less true as an operational reality for carriers who’ve built their business models around cheaper labor.

Todd Spencer, President of the Owner Operator Independent Drivers Association, put it bluntly: “The days of exploiting cheap labor on the basis of false ‘driver shortage’ claims are over.” OOIDA has long argued that the driver shortage is a wage shortage, that carriers claiming they can’t find drivers are really complaining that they can’t find drivers willing to work for what they’re paying.

The proliferation of non-domiciled CDLs has been identified as a major contributor to the ongoing freight recession. Over 200,000 new drivers entering the market since 2019 created capacity that depressed rates and extended the downturn beyond what fundamentals would suggest. Removing that capacity, combined with enforcement of English proficiency requirements and other regulatory pressure, could significantly tighten the market.

“FMCSA anticipates that the market will respond to this change in capacity as it has in the past, with rates adjusting and drivers and carriers entering the market where needed,” the agency’s rulemaking states. Translation: rates are going up, and carriers who’ve been undercutting the market with questionably licensed drivers are going to feel it.

What It Means for USPS Contractors

USPS holds approximately 4,600 trucking contracts. The agency hasn’t specified a timeline for phasing out non-domiciled drivers, and a spokesperson declined to say how the vetting process would work or how many contractors would be affected.

Contractors using non-domiciled CDL holders will either need to run those drivers through Postal Inspection Service vetting, a process that doesn’t currently exist at scale, or replace them. Given that USPS’s first attempt at enforcement collapsed within days, expect a long runway before any meaningful implementation.

For carriers operating on the USPS network, the practical advice is straightforward: document everything about your drivers’ credentials, start building contingency capacity now, and assume vetting requirements will only become more stringent over time. The combination of DOT regulatory pressure and USPS policy alignment means the window for operating with marginal documentation is closing.

For the broader industry, the USPS announcement is a signal of where federal procurement is heading. The days of lowest-bidder-wins contracting without meaningful safety oversight are ending, not because agencies suddenly developed a conscience, but because the body count became impossible to ignore and the political winds shifted.

There’s a temptation to view this entire controversy through a partisan lens, the Trump administration targeting immigrants, sanctuary states resisting, etc. That framing obscures what’s actually happening.

USPS contractor oversight has been catastrophically broken for at least a decade. Beam Brothers operated a drug-fueled fatigue scheme for nearly 20 years. Caminantes put unlicensed drivers behind the wheel 16 times before killing a family. Dozens of carriers with conditional safety ratings continue hauling mail. The agency didn’t track deaths. It still doesn’t properly verify who’s authorized to transport its freight.

The non-domiciled CDL issue is real, and states did abuse the program. California’s own DMV acknowledged it doesn’t track how many CDLs it issues to non-citizens. FMCSA found that one in four sampled California credentials were improperly issued under rules that existed before the emergency order. That’s not Trump administration overreach, that’s a genuine regulatory failure.

Whether the administration’s emergency rule survives court challenge remains to be seen. Whether it’s being implemented in a manner that’s genuinely about safety versus political theater is a legitimate debate. But the underlying problems, contractor fraud, inadequate vetting, lax enforcement, preventable deaths, those aren’t partisan inventions. Those are documented facts that should concern anyone who shares the road with an 80,000-pound truck.

The Postal Service just completed what it called “an extremely safe and efficient peak season.” Maybe so, but 79 people killed in contractor crashes over three years suggests their definition of “safe” needs work. If it takes political pressure to force accountability, so be it.

The freight keeps moving. The question is whether anyone driving it should be behind the wheel.

Texas carrier ordered to pay more than $100K to fired driver

A Fort Worth–based trucking company has been ordered to reinstate and compensate a truck driver who federal investigators say was illegally terminated after reporting safety concerns.

The Department of Labor has ruled that Balkan Express violated federal whistleblower protections when it fired the driver, whose complaints were protected under the Surface Transportation Assistance Act (STAA), according to agency findings released this week.

Following an investigation by the Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Balkan Express was ordered to rehire the driver and pay back wages, interest, compensatory damages and punitive damages totaling more than $100,000, the agency said.

Federal officials said the driver was terminated after raising concerns related to commercial motor vehicle safety — conduct that is explicitly protected under the STAA, which prohibits retaliation against drivers who report unsafe conditions or violations of federal trucking regulations.

“Truck drivers should never fear retaliation for speaking up about safety concerns,” the Department of Labor said in its announcement, emphasizing that whistleblower protections are a core component of federal oversight of the trucking industry.

The ruling comes amid broader financial and operational challenges for Balkan Express. In May, the company and its brokerage affiliate, Balkan Logistics, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, citing debts of more than $25 million, according to previous FreightWaves reporting.

At the time of its bankruptcy filing, Balkan Express reported operating 159 trucks and employing 166 drivers.

German company joins push to replace traditional truck mirrors

WASHINGTON — A German technology company wants to join a growing list of companies granted exemptions from trucking regulations allowing motor carriers to install cameras that replace traditional mirrors.

Aumovio, the former automotive technology business of Continental AG, has applied to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration for an exemption for its ProViu Mirror video system to replace rear-view mirrors mounted on the sides of truck cabs.

“Aumovio estimates that, if granted, 50 to 100 commercial motor vehicles equipped with the ProViu Mirror camera monitor system [will] be used initially in proof of concept/demonstration vehicles with key customers,” the company stated in its exemption application. “Future deployment volumes will depend on the outcome of these initial demonstration deployments.”

The request asks FMCSA for a five-year waiver from regulation 49 CFR § 393.80(a), which currently mandates two permanent rear-vision mirrors on all commercial vehicles.

Aumovio contends that its digital alternative doesn’t just replicate the view, it improves it by expanding the driver’s field of vision and nearly eliminating dangerous blind spots that can plague traditional setups. With the displays located inside the cabin, the driver’s view remains clear even when side windows are obscured by road spray or ice.

The company also claims the cameras are less susceptible to impact damage than bulky mirrors because they don’t extend out as far from the side of the vehicle. If a system fails, the company stated the vehicle would be taken out of service until repaired, replicating the protocol for trucks equipped with traditional mirrors.

Changing the rules to allow cameras as a permanent option to traditional side mirrors – which would negate the need for issuing exemptions – has wide support, based on comments received by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

An Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking issued by NHTSA in 2019 generated close to 600 comments, most of which were in favor of the rule change. A decision on whether to advance the rule is pending.

In the meantime, several technology providers have successfully navigated the exemption process to bring mirrorless camera systems to the U.S. market, as FMCSA has consistently determined that high-definition digital displays can achieve safety levels equivalent to or greater than traditional mirrors.

To date, all major exemptions for the technology remain valid, with early adopters already receiving five-year renewals:

Stoneridge, Inc. (MirrorEye): The first to receive a CMS exemption in 2018, Stoneridge was granted a renewal in February 2024 that extends its validity through February 13, 2029.
Vision Systems North America (Smart-Vision): Originally granted in January 2020, the company applied for a renewal in late 2024 to extend its exemption through January 2030.
Rosco Vision Systems (DCAMS): This system was granted a five-year exemption in late 2022 and remains valid until December 4, 2027.
Convoy Technologies: Convoy received a five-year exemption for its Electronic Rear View System (ERVS) that is effective until July 24, 2029.
Safe Fleet Bus and Rail: Their “MirrorLESS” system was granted an exemption in mid-2024, remaining valid through July 25, 2029.
Robert Bosch/Mekra Lang: This partnership also holds a five-year exemption for their digital mirror system.

FMCSA is inviting public comment on the proposal for the next 30 days.

Click for more FreightWaves articles by John Gallagher.