Implications of the Truck Driver English Language Proficiency Executive Order | Advisor Pulse

On April 28, 2025, President Trump signed an Executive Order entitled, “Enforcing Commonsense Rules of the Road for America’s Truck Drivers,” which increases the stringency of regulations around English proficiency for truck drivers. This comes after President Trump signed an Executive Order that formally designated English as the official language of the U.S. on March 1, 2025.

Changes to English proficiency rules for truck drivers

Federal law requires truck drivers to read and speak English sufficiently to communicate with the public, respond to official inquiries, read highway signs, and make entries in reports or records. Since a June 2016 policy introduced during the Obama administration, violations of that law have not resulted in a driver being placed out-of-service but cited instead. This shift significantly impacted the transportation industry as, English proficiency violations dropped from approximately 101,000 in 2014 to between 7,800–10,000 annually between 2017 to 2024. In 2014, 4,000 of the 101,000 drivers with violations were placed out of service. To provide context, there were about 1.4 million trucking employees in 2014, meaning about 7.1% of employees received violations and 0.2% were placed “out of service."

The Trump administration has directed the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) to rescind the existing policy and issue new guidance to ensure if drivers fail to meet English language proficiency standards that they are placed out-of-service. FMCSA has 60 days to issue guidance around implementation.

English proficiency standard enforcement and future initiatives

While the federal government sets the standards, the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA), a coalition of local, state, and federal law enforcement officials, enforces them. This is important because most trucking inspections are conducted by state officials. In 2024, federal officials conducted less than 3% of 2.9 million total inspections. Following the Executive Order, the Department of Transportation (DOT) called upon the CVSA to update its out-of-service criteria to include English language proficiency violations. On April 29, 2025, a CVSA committee voted to adopt this change, and the board approved it on May 1, 2025.

The CVSA Driver and Traffic Committee also recommended two initiatives. The first is to have the CDL testing in English, since states can currently give the written portion in other languages. The Committee also recommended if drivers take the CDL test in a language other than English, “they are immediately faced with an (out-of-service) condition for driver qualifications because they do not speak English.” The Executive Committee adopted this recommendation.

Key implications of the "Enforcing Commonsense Rules of the Road for America’s Truck Drivers" executive order

• Safety and compliance: Some trucking organizations, such as OOIDA, view the change as a safety win. Others say English proficiency has already been a long-standing requirement, and greater attention is needed in other places to improve safety.
• Subjective enforcement risks: There are also concerns about the potential inconsistent and inequitable enforcement across jurisdictions.
• Impact on international trade: For international trade, carriers do not expect the English language proficiency Executive Order and CVSA actions to have significant impacts since cross-border carriers and drayage providers utilize B-1 visas to pick-up or deliver cargo and have specific criteria around their time in the country.  However, the DOT will review “non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs) to identify any unusual patterns or other suspicious irregularities” as part of the Executive Order enforcement.  ATA CEO, Chris Spear, has expressed concerns over B-1 visa misuse in trucking.

Stay informed on regulatory changes in transportation and logistics

The enforcement of the English proficiency Executive Order highlights the critical need for understanding regulatory changes and their far-reaching implications within the transportation and logistics industry. For shippers, carriers, and industry stakeholders, staying ahead of these evolving requirements is essential to maintaining efficiency. To support your efforts, subscribe to our blog, where we deliver expert insights on key industry developments—empowering you to make strategic, informed decisions that drive success in your transportation network.