Tariffs have to be the point of emphasis in this week's roundup, as we detail the guidance provided by the White House about the 25% import tariffs on medium- and heavy-duty trucks set to begin on Nov. 1. We discuss how USMCA compliance will figure into tariff assessments for trucks and parts, credits for U.S. made components and the ultimate impact we could see on equipment pricing. We also touch on the weakening carrier space, where capacity and freight tonnage is shrinking without any impact to new equipment demand, leading to weakening OEM earnings reports. Finally we touch on a busy (and positive) VIPAR Heavy Duty IMPACT Conference, where the group highlighting the resiliency of its members and new innovations that will help the group remain an aftermarket leader in the year ahead.
Lucas: Hey, everybody. Lucas here, back in the office after a couple busy weeks of travel for today’s TPS Weekly News Roundup.
The biggest story today has been the biggest story all week, has been the biggest story for the last month — the 25% tariff on new imported medium- and heavy-duty trucks. The Trump Administration announcing late last Friday some guidelines about that tariff and what their expectations are when it’s implemented next Saturday. And we got some good news. The tariff will not apply to USMCA-compliant vehicles, according to the Trump Administration. Now, the Secretary of Commerce needs to approve that exemption, but it sounds like the tariff will apply to vehicles that are not USMCA exempt and will apply to parts that are not USMCA exempt.
A couple other keynotes there. There is a tariff offset for parts that are sourced from the United States that have to cross the border. There’s also some information in there about tariffs specific to parts and how that will be impacted. A lot of great stuff in the story on TPS. So, if you haven’t seen that yet, please check that out. We’ll be continuing to cover this as we get closer to the next Saturday’s deadline. And then once the tariff goes into effect, we’ll be covering exactly how many vehicles are impacted. But some really good information there and a really good sign for the trucking industry that we’re not going to be hit by a complete 25% tariff for all trucks that are coming in from the northern or southern border.
Also this week we [had] a lot on carrier capacity, freight demand, and really the lack of freight demand and what that’s doing to equipment sales. Some good stuff from ACT Research and FTR this week about the state of the market from a sales perspective and from a carrier utilization perspective, so check those stories out.
We had our earnings reports from the third quarter from Paccar, which was down substantially on a revenue perspective. Volvo, which was down substantially on a revenue perspective. As you can expect. We’ll also be getting the Daimler and Traton information here shortly. That’ll be on the website, so keep a lookout for that.
And then lastly, the VIPAR Heavy Duty IMPACT Conference is going on all this week. I had the opportunity to be there on Monday and Tuesday. And the VIPAR team, despite the struggles we’ve seen in the entirety of the industry, really positive, really optimistic, really proud of the resilience they’ve seen from their stockholders and members this year. And during the conference, they talked about how the VIPAR network has withstood 2025 better than competitors and better than most of the industry. And they really complimented their members for that. They also spoke about some of the new features and benefits they’re providing to VIPAR stockholders and members and distributors so they can continue to lead the industry as we move into 2026 and beyond.
So, be sure to check out those stories about VIPAR, about the OEM earnings, about vehicle and freight capacity utilization, everything on the tariffs. It’s all on the website.
Also, be sure to like and subscribe to these videos so you can get them every weekend. We will talk to you next week. Thank you so much. Have a great weekend. We’ll see you later. Bye guys.
