How America’s trucking industry became a hellscape

Craig Fuller, CEO at FreightWaves · Friday, December 05, 2025

Over the past few months, I’ve spoken with hundreds of senior executives at America’s largest trucking companies. Nearly all say they only recently discovered the massive influx of foreign drivers and motor carriers. Most assumed the trend was gradual; none realized it was exponential.

These changes were driven by a long-standing belief—pushed hard by the American Trucking Associations (ATA)—that the U.S. faces a permanent truck-driver shortage. The ATA’s solution was to lobby Congress and FMCSA to lower every barrier to entry, convinced that new drivers would flow to large ATA-member fleets rather than small operators.

That assumption was rooted in an old reality: twenty years ago, only the biggest carriers offered real-time tracking, electronic tendering, and direct shipper relationships. Small carriers and brokers were stuck with phone, fax, and leftover freight.

That world no longer exists.

Fueled by billions in venture capital and private equity, freight brokers have not only caught up on technology—they’ve leapfrogged the large fleets. They offer single-source routing guides, superior automation, and, crucially, no obligation to enforce hours-of-service, speed limiters, or driver-qualification standards. Brokers simply buy the cheapest capacity available.

When the ATA successfully lobbied to dismantle entry barriers, it inadvertently handed the industry to those brokers and to the least-compliant segment of the market.

Key regulatory changes that removed barriers and gutted safety enforcement:

• 2016 – DOT stops enforcing English-proficiency requirements for CDLs
• 2018 – ELD mandate implemented; self-certified devices with intentional back doors allow unlimited editing of driving hours
• 2019 – Non-domiciled CDLs introduced, permitting foreign nationals to obtain U.S. commercial licenses
• 2022 – Entry-Level Driver Training rule triggers explosion of unaccredited “CDL mills” selling licenses for $500–$1,000 in days with virtually no training

These minimally trained foreign drivers cannot pass the vetting of large, compliant carriers (no work authorization, poor English, zero experience). They end up at small, often foreign-owned fleets that pay 40% below market and routinely run 14–20-hour days using tampered ELDs.