Truckers Headed For Freight Depression After Historic Diesel SpikeBenjamin Roberts
Associate Editor
March 12, 2026 8:41 AM ET
Truckers have overwhelmingly supported President Trump since his first campaign, but his latest move could put them out of business.
On February 28, President Trump launched Operation Epic Fury, decapitating Iranian leadership and sparking a shipping crisis in the Strait of Hormuz. Diesel prices rose by over 85 cents to $4.59 a gallon in the week after, throttling independent truckers’ bottom lines nearly four years into a freight recession.
“For us to absorb this cost for much more than a few months means extinction,” independent trucker and Hell Bent Xpress President Jamie Hagen told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Fuel was the death blow to an already beaten up industry.”
With diesel rising nearly a dollar in mere days, independent truckers are scrambling to keep their companies afloat. The industry’s years-long decline isn’t solely attributable to diesel prices. Pandemic-era policies and mass immigration have both wreaked havoc on truckers’ livelihoods.
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https://dailycaller.com/2026/03/12/truckers-headed-for-a-freight-depression-after-historic-diesel-spike/
