Trump's Order Returns to English Rule for Truck Drivers

Law has been in effect, but president says it isn't being enforced
Posted Apr 28, 2025 7:30 PM CDT
Trump's Order Returns to English Rule for Truck Drivers
Newly loaded trucks stop at a security checkpoint before leaving the Port of Los Angeles.   (Getty/Siri Stafford)

President Trump's latest executive order calls for enforcing a measure already on the books—a federal law requiring proficiency in English for commercial truck drivers. In signing the measure on Monday evening, per the AP, Trump said the "requirement has not been enforced in years, and America's roadways have become less safe." Violating the English requirement would put a driver "out-of-service," the order says, per the Hill. "There's a lot of communication problems between truckers on the road with federal officials and local officials," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters.

Federal data show investigators recorded about 2,200 violations of the language requirement in the first three months of the year, the Washington Post reports, out of roughly 1.2 million truck safety violations in the period. The trucking industry has long complained about unfair treatment under government enforcement efforts, and trucking safety enforcement fell sharply after Trump took office in January, per the Post. Safety advocates argue that lax enforcement of the body of truck safety regulations puts fellow motorists at risk.

Despite the rule being in effect, an organization that oversees North America trucking safety decided about a decade ago that a violation of the English proficiency requirement did not rise to the level of an imminent safety hazard that would take a driver off the road, per the Post. On Monday, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, which had wanted the rule enforced, welcomed Trump's order. "Road signs save lives—but only when they're understood," said the group's president. (More President Trump stories.)

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