This week we tackle the ongoing U.S. and Canada trade war and the proposed tariffs Canada will put on automotive and heavy truck components and materials. We also touch on Chinese truck production and what North American OEMs can learn from the east, both to improve their profitability and prepare for future Chinese competition. Then we highlight a trio of award program finalists, Excel Truck Group, Trailer Equipment and Parts for Trucks, and note the potential introduction of fully driverless trucks on U.S. highways by the end of the 2026 and upcoming CVSN Summit.
Lucas: Hey, everybody. Lucas here for today’s TPS weekly news roundup. We’ve got a lot of stuff to cover. Let’s go ahead and get started.
I’m going to begin with tariffs. Unfortunately, it looks like we have more tariffs coming down the pike. The United States and Canada were in discussions at the end of August trying to come up with a new trade deal. Trade talks fell through. President Trump responded immediately with some retaliatory tariffs against Canada, set to go into effect on January 1, 2027. We had that story last week.
Canada has responded in kind with its own list of tariffs. These are anywhere from 15 to 50%, a variety of categories. Every category impacting the automotive and heavy-duty sector we have listed in a story on our website, so be sure to check that out. There’s a lot of stuff: wiring; alloy; steel; springs. The stuff you need for trucks and trailers; Canada intends to have tariffs there. Hopefully we get a resolution. Hopefully there’s a new trade deal between the two countries. Hopefully there’s an update to USMCA and we don’t have to have these conversations every week, but it looks like we are considering some more tariffs on products going both up and down across the border.
Also this week we had a story on Chinese truck makers. Last month at MEMA’s Commercial Vehicle Outlook Conference, they had two partners there from McKinsey & Company who were talking about how Chinese truck makers can build a truck for half the price and [in] half the time it takes North American domestic OEMs. I know what you’re thinking. Great for them. Doesn’t impact my business. China’s a long way away. Yes, that's true, but the team from McKinsey & Company really believe that Chinese OEMs will attempt to permeate the North American market in the coming years. They’re already doing so in Europe with automobiles and buses. They’re about to do so with trucks there. And the team from McKinsey says as soon as they do that in Europe, they’re going to turn their attention to North America.
The team from McKinsey had some really good insights for what OEMs can do. Basically, you have to overhaul your production. You have to find ways to be more efficient. You have to find ways to drive out costs. You can’t cut 2% and think you’re going to compete against a product that is half the price of yours. So, some really interesting insights there from the team at McKinsey & Company. Be sure to check that story out. It is on the website.
And then just a quick run through some other stuff.
We had a profile of Excel Truck Group, which is a Successful Dealer Award finalist for the second time this year. You can check that story out, some great photos and learn about that business. We had a story about Trailer Equipment, which is a finalist for our Trailblazer Award. They’ve been in our program before. Really great business in Michigan. You can check that story out.
On our Distributor of the Year side, we had a story with Parts for Trucks, which is a gigantic distributor across all of Canada. They’ve been in the Distributor of the Year program before, but not for several years, so we’re glad to have them back in and you can learn more about their business.
Also, some interesting insights. Kodiak AI intends to have a driverless truck run across North America by the end of the year. They are currently running tests. They say they’re 93% toward being capable of running a complete driverless route across the country.
So, that’ll be really interesting to keep an eye on. Currently, they’re only running full driverless vehicles in West Texas in a very controlled environment, but they believe that their technology is close enough that by the end of the year, they’ll be able to expand that out. So check that story out. That’s on the website.
Some sales [news]. Thermo King bought nine stores and added it into its factory dealer network. Thermo King still wants to have an independent dealer network, but they felt it was necessary in this case to purchase some stores that were available. So, you can check that story out. Volvo had some updates too of its over-the-air programming software. That story is on the website. Check that out.
Next week I will be at the CVSN Summit, so there’ll be stories coming out of that event Thursday, Friday, Saturday. You can check out the website. You can check out the roundup next week. You’ll catch all that.
As always, like and subscribe to these videos so you get them every week. Be sure to subscribe to the newsletter so you don’t miss stories every day. Check out the website so you don’t miss anything. Have a great weekend. Thanks for watching and we’ll see you next week. Thanks everybody. Bye.
