What To Expect In 2026 - Tariffs, EPA 2027 And More

Yeah, trailers is said to be the leading indicator when it comes to equipment demand.

And we're not seeing any right now.

We're not seeing that demand.

There's a lot of reasons for that.

There's the tariffs, which add a lot of, you know, there's a lot of aluminum and steel that goes into a trailer.

And then you just have that soft freight demand that hasn't picked up.

I mean, everyone's been waiting for that to happen.

Not long ago, I was down at the American Trucking Association's Management Conference and Exhibition, which is a good place to go to sort of get the pulse of the fleets and the OEMs and what they're thinking about.

And no one was overly optimistic that they're going to see trucking conditions improve over the next six months or so.

If there's a recovery, it's not going to be based on freight demand.

It's more likely to be based on capacity leaving the industry.

But everyone's wondering what's taking so long and such a hard market for that capacity to leave.

Yeah, that's a good point.

We're seeing that you're starting to see obviously some news, you know, more so in the US, a little bit in Canada, you know, about businesses that are kind of not making it through.

And to your point that, you know, will help bring them rates up as the capacity leaves the market, which then may start spurring, you know, some purchasing of new equipment, assuming that the rates can then support, you know, the capital cost of the equipment for sure.

Right, and it's much more palatable financially to start adding trailers before you add Class 8 trucks, especially if you're uncertain because, you know, it's a lower cost.

And both are needed, but trailers are something that you can pick up for a lot less money than a new Class 8 these days.

That's true, and they're not, you know, tied to any emission standards and stuff that are, you know, potentially coming down that way.

And I guess, you know, tied to that, you know, with the trailers, obviously the Class 8 and medium duty, what are you seeing and hearing about those two lines?

For Class 8 and medium duty, it's much the same.

There's just so much, I think you said the word uncertainty.

There's so much uncertainty that's keeping fleets sitting on their hands.

And there's multiple reasons for it.

There's emissions regulations.

What's going to happen? This was supposed to be a great year for you to be selling trucks.