Executive Order Requires English Proficiency for Truck Drivers

Posted on by

On April 28, President Trump issued an Executive Order (EO) to “Enforce Commonsense Rules of the Road For America’s Truck Drivers. The EO goes along with the Executive order declaring that English is the official language of the US. It calls for putting drivers with a lack of English language proficiency “out of service”. The bullets below are from a fact sheet linked below.

  • The Order directs the Secretary of Transportation to rescind guidance that watered down the law requiring English proficiency for commercial drivers.
  • It mandates revising out-of-service criteria to ensure drivers violating English proficiency rules are placed out-of-service, enhancing roadway safety.
  • It instructs the Secretary of Transportation to review state issuance of non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses to identify any irregularities and ensure American drivers are validly licensed and qualified.
  • The Order directs the Secretary of Transportation to carry out additional administrative, regulatory, or enforcement actions to improve the working conditions of America’s truck drivers.

The order reverses a 2016 Obama administration rule that ‘watered down’ the English Proficiency requirements for putting a driver ‘out of service’. The Order’s rule for ‘out of service’ criteria will take effect on June 25.

There are still a number of questions and in particular interest to our members are how do drivers with Licencia Federal de Conductor licenses here in the US legally under H-2A fare under this rule.

The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s board met late last week in an emergency session to overwhelmingly support this rule. The Alliance is made up of enfacement officials, state regulators, trucking companies and trade associations.

We will continue to follow this rule and help you navigate this issues this will raise this year.

Further Reading:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/04/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-enforces-commonsense-rules-of-the-road-for-americas-truck-drivers/

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/trump-requiring-that-truckers-speak-and-read-english

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/cvsa-votes-to-put-truck-drivers-with-limited-english-out-of-service

DSF