���ϳԹ���

We keep seeing signs that things are looking up for the trucking industry. Most of the relevant economic indicators are favorable for trucking. Commodities are getting stronger, oil rig counts are increasing and the housing recovery is persisting. At the same time, small businesses are feeling a greater sense of optimism, and improvements to the tax code may boost entrepreneurialism. Low unemployment rates ultimately will lead to higher wages, giving consumers more money to spend and putting more goods on trucks.

While President Donald Trump is calling for reversals of some environmental regulations, it’s important to note what isn’t changing. And that is the commitment that freight carriers, truck makers and even some shippers, such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc., are making to reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions.

I love trucks. As I travel the country as chairman of American Trucking Associations, I wear a simple button with a simple message: “I Love Trucks.” I even wear it in my official ATA chairman’s portrait. It’s a button I encourage everyone I meet to wear. It starts conversations about this great industry and gives me a chance to tell our story.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Truck makers returned to the Mid-America Trucking Show, to varying degrees, and while many things seemed familiar, the specter of new competition also loomed over North America’s largest annual truck show.