The President of the United States issued an executive order yesterday titled,Enforcing Commonsense Rules of the Road for America’s Truck Drivers, that calls for a change with respect to how the current English Proficiency requirement in the regulations is enforced for commercial truck drivers operating in the US when interacting with enforcement officials. In the Executive Order, the president states that in the future, if commercial truck drivers cannot communicate in English to the satisfaction of the enforcement official that driver will be placed out-of- service (OOS).

The Executive Order states:

Proficiency in English, which I designated as our official national language in Executive Order 14224 of March 1, 2025 (Designating English as the Official Language of the United States), should be a non-negotiable safety requirement for professional drivers.  They should be able to read and understand traffic signs, communicate with traffic safety, border patrol, agricultural checkpoints, and cargo weight-limit station officers.  Drivers need to provide feedback to their employers and customers and receive related directions in English.  This is common sense… That is why Federal law requires that, to operate a commercial vehicle, a driver must “read and speak the English language sufficiently to converse with the general public, to understand highway traffic signs and signals in the English language, to respond to official inquiries, and to make entries on reports and records.”  Yet this requirement has not been enforced in years, and America’s roadways have become less safe.

The Executive Order directs the Secretary of Transportation, acting through the Administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), to, within 60 days of April 28 to rescind the guidance document titled, “English Language Proficiency Testing and Enforcement Policy MC-ECE-2016-006,” issued on June 15, 2016, and issue new guidance to FMCSA and enforcement personnel outlining revised inspection procedures necessary to ensure compliance with the requirements of 49 C.F.R. 391.11(b)(2).

The executive order continues in specifically directing the Secretary of Transportation, through the Administrator of the FMCSA, to ensure that the newly reshaped policy ensure ensures that the application of the out-of-service criteria are revised and that such that a violation of the English language proficiency requirement results in the driver being placed out-of-service.

President Trump also ordered two other focus areas:

1. a review non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs) issued by relevant State agencies to identify any unusual patterns or numbers or other irregularities with respect to non-domiciled CDL issuance and 
2. evaluate and take appropriate actions to improve the effectiveness of current protocols for verifying the authenticity and validity of both domestic and international commercial driving credentials.

The Executive Order also sent the trucking industry a message that the President will be looking at changes to administrative, regulatory or enforcement actions that would improve the “working conditions of America’s truck drivers.”

“It is the policy of my Administration to support America’s truckers and safeguard our roadways by enforcing the commonsense English-language requirement for commercial motor vehicle drivers and removing needless regulatory burdens that undermine the working conditions of America’s truck drivers.  This order will help ensure a safe, secure, and efficient motor carrier industry”.

Canadian Trucking Alliance Reaction

The Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA) will be working with government and industry partners to understand the full extent of the Executive Order and all associated timelines.

“The English proficiency requirement to operate a commercial vehicle in the United States is nothing the Canadian Trucking Alliance and its members have not been aware of for a very long time,” said CTA president Stephen Laskowski.  “What will be critical moving forward is the development of consistent enforcement between commercial drivers and US enforcement officials and the compliance path developed for industry including application of the out-of-service criteria.”

As the various parts of the executive order materialize, CTA will also work with governments to address and develop compliance protocols and solutions to previous executive orders and general recommendations to improve truck safety and the working conditions for all truck drivers engaged in international commerce. These actions will include:

• Developing measures to protect the motoring public from, and root out Canadian trucking fleets, consultants and brokers that abuse commercial insurance regimes and those that are complicit with known irregularities associated commercial driver’s licences.
• Protecting the US-Canada Trucking Supply Chain, Trusted Trader Programs and unsuspecting new entrants to the industry from exposure to forced labour through increased oversight and vigilance on all application processes for effected programs.
• Protecting the legitimacy of Owner-Operators engaged in International Commerce from ownership groups prone to the use of Labour Misclassification schemes and financially unfavourable business agreements that undermine working conditions and the ability for sustainable operations.
• Ensuring all trucking fleets have appropriate, accurate, timely and consistent oversight of their Canadian domestic operations.