By John Gallagher of FreightWaves
In May 2020, President Donald Trump sided with owner-operators lining the National Mall with their rigs protesting alleged price gouging by truck brokers.
“All they want is to be treated fairly, and we’re going to treat them fairly,” Trump told hosts of the morning show “Fox & Friends” at the time. “They’re great people, and they’re successful. They have these big, beautiful trucks. … They’re not asking for much, so we’re going to take care of them.”
Almost five years later, on Jan. 21, 2025, the comment period will end on the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Broker Transparency rulemaking, which was rolled out last year in response to petitions filed by small-business truckers during the 2020 protests. The proposed rule would impose tough new standards on contracts between brokers and shippers, with the goal of giving motor carriers easier access to rate information.
Following the comment period – which ends the day after Trump is inaugurated – his FMCSA will have to decide whether to issue a final rule, delay action on it or revoke it altogether. It’s unclear if his administration will continue to support truckers on the issue.
“If there’s anybody who thinks they can predict what President Trump is going to do, they’re probably not going to be in any industry very long,” said Chris Burroughs, president and CEO of the Transportation Intermediaries Association, which lobbies on behalf of brokers and is adamantly against the proposed rule.
Speaking Wednesday on a webinar panel hosted by the National Industrial Transportation League (NITL) discussing the prospects for the proposed rule, Burroughs acknowledged Trump’s siding with truckers in May 2020, just after the beginning of the pandemic when freight rates had plummeted due to overcapacity in the trucking market.
Trump was also facing reelection, and many saw his attention to the issue as trying to placate a portion of his voter base, which included owner-operators.
“So we don’t know – we’re educating where we can, we’re working with Trump’s transition team, we’ll work with likely-soon-to-be Transportation Secretary Duffy, the folks at FMCSA,” Burroughs said. “But predicting where President Trump’s going to be on this, we’re not sure.”
Fair play and driver fatigue
The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, along with the Small Business in Transportation Coalition, sought the rulemaking from FMCSA to allow truckers greater access to freight-rate information. OOIDA has argued that, while those rates are determined by supply and demand, FMCSA’s lack of enforcement of existing broker transparency regulations has harmed truckers and benefited brokers.
“We’re not suggesting that broker transparency will set rates or guarantee certain rates,” OOIDA asserts. “We support the free market and are trying to even the playing field so that truckers aren’t systematically negotiating with one hand behind their backs.”
In agreeing to issue the rulemaking, FMCSA stated that it cannot “replace prudent business judgement” of shippers, brokers and carriers.
“However, the brokered freight transportation industry requires a certain degree of trust to operate efficiently,” the agency stated in the proposed rule.
“Trust is eroded when motor carriers are prevented from seeing the charges and payments associated with the service they are providing. In addition to creating mistrust, unsubstantiated and specious charges levied on motor carriers divert resources to paying or litigating the charges, that could otherwise be spent providing safe and efficient transportation.”
The National Owner Operators Association echoed the safety issue, contending that when carriers are unaware of the true value of a load, “they may accept below-cost rates, leading to financial stress,” wrote NOOA President Michael Boston in comments filed in the rulemaking.
“Carriers under financial pressure may feel forced to work longer hours, potentially violating Hours of Service regulations, which directly impacts safety.”
A trucking backfire?
But Nadia Martin, who manages freight claims and carrier compliance at Blakeman Transportation, a trucking brokerage, says requiring brokers to reveal sensitive freight rate information would backfire on truckers.
“Carriers would see that brokers don’t make much off the load already, and with transparency, it could cause broker rates to fall even more in an attempt to secure whatever freight they can,” Martin told FreightWaves. “This in turn would cause carrier rates to fall because brokers would be in a bidding war with other brokers trying to get freight. Lowest rate wins, which means the carrier wouldn’t be paid as much.”
‘Slippery slope’
NITL General Counsel Karyn Booth is skeptical that FMCSA, under the Trump administration, would make expanding oversight of private contract terms a priority.
“They really need to be focusing on safety and fraud – that makes a lot more sense of where to put their resources,” Booth said during the webinar.
She added that there’s a wider “slippery slope” argument to be made as well.
“Where does this go from here? Do you move to the ocean industry and start requiring disclosure of ocean freight forwarder rates? What about all the other industries that use middlemen – the travel industry, finance industry, real estate – what is the precedent being set here, and is it a good idea?
“Certainly from my perspective, when you have a very robustly competitive industry, it’s very unusual for the federal government to come in and dictate disclosure of proprietary commercial terms that are negotiated privately between two parties, and then giving that information to a third party.”
