KCCI News 8: High Diesel Prices for Trucking Companies

Research/Study Research/Study

Fox News is supporting the Trump policies that are devastating America’s trucking industry

Written by Zachary Pleat

Published

Local and national news reports have documented that the trucking industry is struggling amid Fox-endorsed Trump administration actions and policies that have caused diesel prices to skyrocket, forced hundreds of thousands of truckers off the road, and increased the cost of trucks and replacement parts.

Jump to section

  • Trump’s Iran war is driving higher diesel prices across the country

    • Minnesota Public Radio: “As diesel prices spike, Minnesota's trucking industry feeling the hit from war in Iran.” MPR News reported: “Gas and diesel prices in Minnesota are nearing record-high prices as President Donald Trump threatens Iran with more bombing if it doesn’t fully open the Strait of Hormuz and agree to a deal he's put forth to end the war. Fuel prices have skyrocketed since the war on Iran began more than two months ago. According to the AAA, diesel reached a statewide average of $5.43 at the start of May. That’s 14 cents less than the record for Minnesota from June 2022. John Hausladen, president of the Minnesota Trucking Association, said the spike in diesel prices is putting many truckers in a tough spot.” [MPR News, 5/6/26]
    • Missouri's KFVS 12 reported high diesel costs may cause trucking companies to “go under.” [KFVS 12, 5/5/26]
    • Central Iowa’s KCCI NewsChannel 8 interviewed a local trucking company owner about how rising fuel prices is causing increased prices for everyone. [KCCI, YouTube, 5/4/26]
    • Jackson, Tennessee, outlet 39 News covered the reaction of residents to rising gas and diesel prices: “It's going to be real hard on trucking, construction businesses. The cost of diesel is outrageous.” [39 News, 4/29/26]
    • Austin, Texas, station KVUE 24: “Trucking industry impacted by rise of diesel costs leading to higher price of goods.” [KVUE, 5/6/26]

  • Fox supported Trump’s Iran war and defended the resulting spike in fuel prices

    • Multiple Fox hosts told their audiences to accept the “sacrifice” of spiking gas prices caused by Trump’s war against Iran. Fox Business host Dagen McDowell and Fox anchor Martha MacCallum dismissed gas price spikes by invoking World War II rationing and “the big picture importance” of the war. Fox contributor George Murdoch, known as “Tyrus,” also invoked World War II sacrifice and added: “The president said, yeah, you're going to feel a pinch, because this is what happens when you support the great American men and women” in the military. Fox & Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade said Americans should tolerate high gas prices as a “sacrifice” because “ultimately, we'll be saving money in the big picture.” [Media Matters, 3/12/26]
    • As gas prices went up from the Iran war, Fox News celebrated the “biggest payday in history” for oil companies. Fox host Jesse Watters said: “The U.S. oil market is open for business, and it is booming. Big Oil just had its biggest payday in history.” Fox host Sean Hannity said “America is now benefitting financially because of the blockade” on Iranian ports. Fox Business host Larry Kudlow crowed that the Iran war is causing “a re-ordering of the world’s energy story … because the United States is the reliable energy supplier, oil, gas.” [Media Matters, 4/23/26]
    • Fox personalities claimed that the spike in fuel prices would be short-lived. Watters said: “There's going to be some short-term pain for American consumers until the Iranians are defanged, which we hope is within just a few weeks and oil drops back down to the 60s.” Fox Business anchor Cheryl Casone suggested that Trump would keep the conflict with Iran “short-term” because “America First is making sure we can afford our prices at home — our gasoline prices.” A few days later, Casone reassured viewers on Fox’s Outnumbered that “oil prices will go down in weeks. Americans need to be patient and I think they are.” [Media Matters, 4/10/26]

  • Trump’s move to strip immigrants of commercial driver’s licenses, which lacked evidence it would improve safety, raised costs by reducing the workforce

    • Niskanen Center: A “trucking crackdown” introduced by the Department of Transportation would “push nearly 200,000 legally authorized” truckers out, and it “isn't about safety — it's about immigration.” The Niskanen Center explained in November: “The Department of Transportation (DOT) is selling its recently announced restrictions on ‘non-domiciled’ truck drivers as an emergency measure. In reality, they’re an immigration crackdown. By sharply limiting which foreign-born workers can hold commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs), the DOT will push nearly 200,000 legally authorized drivers off the road, gutting an industry already facing severe labor shortages — all under the guise of highway safety.” The Niskanen Center continued: “The new rule makes seven changes limiting migrants’ eligibility for CDLs, leaving only workers on short-term H-2A, H-2B, or E-2 visas authorized to work in trucking in the U.S.” Previously, “foreign-born individuals who were not U.S. citizens or permanent residents could obtain non-domiciled CDLs if they were authorized to work in the United States. This included workers on temporary visas, such as H-2A or H-2B, as well as individuals with other forms of legal authorization. These statuses included Temporary Protected Status (TPS), Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), and the Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela (CHNV) parole program. Eligible individuals in these categories were granted an Employment Authorization Document (EAD) and had to meet the state’s CDL requirements.” [Niskanen Center, 11/4/25]
    • NPR: “To be clear, states are already blocked from giving commercial driver's licenses to anyone in the U.S. illegally. Immigrants with temporary legal status do need work authorization from the federal government in order to qualify for a CDL.” Public Citizen Litigation Group lawyer Wendy Liu told NPR: “There's absolutely no evidence to support” a claim by the administration that foreign drivers are less safe. She added: “Everybody who gets a commercial driver's license has to pass all the same tests, has to do all the same training. Prohibiting them from having these licenses based on their immigration status just doesn't make any sense.” [NPR, 3/12/26]
    • PBS: The Trump administration cited 17 fatal 2025 trucking accidents that it says “were likely caused by noncitizen truck drivers,” but PBS noted that the figure makes up “less than 1 percent of the fatal crashes caused by truckers each year.” PBS explained: “In March, a Trump administration rule took effect barring some groups of immigrants with temporary status, including DACA recipients … from getting or renewing their commercial driver's licenses.” The story continued: “But the drivers losing their licenses have met current requirements for qualification.” It added: “There is no evidence that immigration status directly connects to driver safety.” [PBS, 5/5/26]
    • The Trump administration sidelined about 6,000 truckers in 2025 over new stricter English proficiency requirements, even though there is no evidence linking a lack of English proficiency to trucker accidents. The Washington Post reported on October 16: “Between June 1 and Monday, about 6,000 truckers were pulled off the road for English-language proficiency violations, according to a Washington Post analysis of Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration data.” The article explained: “But analysts say there is no data showing a correlation between English proficiency and accidents involving commercial truck drivers.” The article cited “the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, an agency within the Transportation Department,” which in 2016 said “there was a lack of evidence tying a lack of English proficiency to trucker accidents.” According to the article, the rules were put in place in May. [The Washington Post, 10/16/25]
    • Marketplace: “Trucking rates rise amid restrictions on immigrant drivers.” Minnesota Public Radio’s Marketplace reported: “Trucking giants say their pricing power is improving because capacity in the industry is declining. Old Dominion showed that on Wednesday, after it reported better-than-expected profits for the first quarter, and J.B. Hunt showed something similar a couple weeks ago. Why is capacity down? Well, the Trump administration has made it more difficult for immigrant truck drivers to get licenses — driver ranks are shrinking, and supply and demand dynamics do the rest.” Satish Jindel, president of logistics firm ShipMatrix, told Marketplace: “Most of these drivers were working for smaller carriers, and they are filing bankruptcy. They are shutting down, and that is reducing the capacity.” [Marketplace, 4/29/26]

  • Fox fearmongered about “illegal alien truckers” and expressed support for Trump’s rules stripping commercial driver’s licenses from legal immigrants

    • Fox Business’ The Evening Edit devoted a segment to spreading fear of “illegal alien truckers,” even though the driver the segment focused on entered the country legally, and a guest advocated for “the revocation of all trucking authorities issued to noncitizens.” Host Elizabeth MacDonald introduced the segment by saying: “Welcome back to this concerning story out of Indiana. Yet another illegal alien trucker arrested over a fatal highway crash that killed four near the Indiana border with Ohio. This is adding to the growing list of U.S. fatalities caused by illegal alien truckers.” Fox reporter Mike Tobin said: “This keeps happening. Someone enters the U.S. — in this case, with a Biden administration policy — gets a commercial driver's license in a sanctuary state, and then gets behind the wheel of a big rig and someone gets hurt, in this case, killed.” Tobin explained: “He entered the U.S. using the Biden administration's CBP One cell phone app,” which was used by the Biden administration to facilitate legal asylum claims. A guest named Harvey Beech said: “Anybody in Washington that is not advocating for the immediate revocation of all nondomiciled CDLs issued to noncitizens, anyone that is not advocating for the revocation of all trucking authorities issued to noncitizens, and anyone who is not advocating to make the brokers liable that are using these illicit trucking companies with their illegal alien drivers, they are an enemy to the American public.” [Fox Business, The Evening Edit, 2/6/26; American Immigration Council, 3/24/25]
    • Fox guest anchor Kevin Corke praised the Trump administration for removing immigrant truck drivers over roadside English proficiency tests, saying of the Department of Transportation: “Give the DOT credit, though. They are pulling these people off the roads.” [Fox News, Fox News @ Night, 2/6/26]
    • Fox Business guest and Republican strategist Ford O’Connell: “Hat tip to Secretary Duffy” for removing 9,500 truckers over English proficiency concerns. [Fox Business, The Evening Edit, 2/11/26]
    • Fox Business host Elizabeth MacDonald: “The numbers are stunning, Ford. The Transportation Department says anywhere from 194,000 to up to 200,000 illegal alien truckers are now on U.S. roads.” MacDonald continued: “California was caught giving thousands of trucking licenses to illegal aliens. So when you’re out there doing a road trip, you don’t know who’s out there driving that truck.” In fact, as The Associated Press explained, California revoked 17,000 commercial driver’s licenses after the drivers’ legal authorization to remain in the country had expired, but they were lawfully present when they were given those licenses. [Fox Business, The Evening Edit, 2/18/26; The Associated Press, 11/13/25]
    • Fox guest and talk radio host Rich Zeoli: “This is happening way too often, these CDL licenses given to illegal immigrants who can't speak English, can't identify the road signs.” Zeoli continued: “These trucks weigh 35,000 pounds. We get hundreds of people across the border illegally who are on the terror watch list. These are potential weapons of mass destruction. We've got to figure out who has these CDL licenses and crack down on this immediately.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends Weekend, 2/22/26]
    • Fox Business guest Craig Fuller: “We have a safety and security crisis happening in the trucking industry because we do not know who's actually hauling freight across the highways.” Fuller also dismissed the impact on inflation of trucking rates going up by removing hundreds of thousands of immigrant truckers: “Now, what people are always asking is, how is this going to impact inflation? I have great news there, because even if trucking rates double, the impact to CPI is less than 1%, because freight trucking, freight is less than 3% of total costs of goods consumers pay.” [Fox Business, Making Money, 2/26/26]
    • Fox Business guest Harvey Beech celebrated legislation that “is essentially going to eliminate all of the nondomiciled CDLs that were issued to illegal aliens within a year.” [Fox Business, The Evening Edit, 3/17/26]
    • Fox & Friends Weekend co-host Charlie Hurt invited Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to talk about “new rules” that “will address the issue of illegals who are driving these big 18-wheelers,” complaining that some of them “don’t speak English well enough to drive a … road sign.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends Weekend, 3/21/26]
    • Fox host Kayleigh McEnany: “Sean Duffy has done a phenomenal job. Hat tip to him” for cracking down on immigrant truck drivers. [Fox News, Outnumbered, 3/24/26]
    • Fox host Tomi Lahren: “Thank you, Secretary Duffy, for doing something about” immigrant truck drivers. [Fox News, The Big Weekend Show, 4/18/26]

  • Trump’s tariffs are hurting the trucking industry

    • The New York Times reported in October that Trump’s tariffs were already having “negative” impacts on truckers and “could make things worse.” The Times reported: “Companies involved in transporting goods into and around the United States are bracing for another tariff — this time on trucks. President Trump is planning to impose a 25 percent tariff on medium- and heavy-duty trucks and truck parts on Nov. 1.” It added: “Prior Trump tariffs have already had an impact on trucking, sometimes negative. Steel and aluminum tariffs have pushed up the cost of the metals for truck makers like Daimler Truck, which makes Freightliner rigs. Daimler said in its most recent quarterly earnings report that ‘uncertainties resulting from U.S. tariff policy’ had contributed to a steep decline in sales.” It continued: “Tariffs on truck parts would be particularly painful, because trucking companies buy parts to extend the life of their vehicles.” The Times noted, “Mr. Trump is imposing the tariff under a national security provision, known as Section 232, that he has also used to tax imports of steel, aluminum, cars, medical devices and lumber.” [The New York Times, 10/16/25]
    • Quartz reported in May: “Trump is raising tariffs on E.U.-made cars and trucks to 25%.” Quartz reported: “President Donald Trump announced Friday that he would raise tariffs on cars and trucks imported from the European Union to 25%, citing what he said was the bloc's failure to comply with a trade deal between the two sides.” Quartz explained that this tariff is separate from tariffs established last year: “The E.U.-U.S. trade relationship had shown signs of stabilizing before Friday's announcement. The E.U. suspended ratification of its trade deal with the U.S. earlier this year after the Supreme Court ruled that Trump lacked authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose his sweeping ‘reciprocal’ tariffs. Trump subsequently imposed a 15% global tariff rate under a separate legal authority.” An analysis from Truck Dispatch Experts explained that these Section 122 tariffs — and the IEEPA tariffs before them — contributed to higher shipping rates, and thousands of dollars in extra costs for new trucks and truck parts, while also elevating demand, and thus prices, for used trucks. [Quartz, 5/1/26; Truck Dispatch Experts, 3/21/26]
    • Industry news site Supply & Demand Chain Executive: Trump’s first term trade war hurt the trucking industry by decreasing demand. A 2019 article explained that due to Trump’s trade war with China, “fewer goods coming into U.S. ports has meant fewer trucks are needed to move them. Freightwaves reports the U.S./China trade war has brought about a 9.5% drop in inbound container volume from May to June, with truckload volume 7% lower in April and May compared to the same months in 2018. Trucking company J.B. Hunt cited tariffs during its April earnings call as one factor for its unexpectedly weak first quarter, noting weakness in the major West Coast market.” [Supply & Demand Chain Executive, 8/19/19]

  • Fox enthusiastically supported Trump’s tariffs

    • Fox embraced “the largest peacetime tax increase” in American history as Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs loomed. Multiple Fox News and Fox Business personalities promoted Trump’s pronouncement of a so-called “Liberation Day” on April 2, 2025 — the day the president was set to unveil his global tariff scheme and possibly implement “the largest peacetime tax increase” in American history “outside of World War II.” [Media Matters, 4/1/25]
    • Within a week of Trump’s April 2 tariff announcement, at least 90 people across Fox News and Fox Business, including 8 guests from the Trump administration and 16 Republicans in Congress, praised his tariff plan. [Media Matters, 4/11/25]
    • Fox hosts dismissed the chaotic implementation of Trump’s tariff regime. Immediately following Trump’s tariff announcement, the stock market crashed at near-historic levels. Though the markets recovered only after Trump announced a monthslong pause in the tariffs, multiple Fox hosts dismissed or defended the stock market plunge as part of a needed “reset” of the economy. [Media Matters, 4/7/25; NBC News, 5/4/25]
    • Fox personalities ranted against the U.S. Court of International Trade for its ruling that many of Trump’s tariffs were illegal. The Supreme Court ultimately ruled the tariffs unconstitutional in February. [Media Matters, 5/29/25, 2/20/26]
    • Fox pretended that Trump’s tariffs had revived manufacturing, even though the sector had lost tens of thousands of jobs since his tariffs were announced. As of the April 2026 jobs report, the manufacturing sector has declined by 77,000 jobs compared to January 2025, when Trump began his second term. [Media Matters, 1/22/26; Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, 5/8/26]