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The Federal Reserve’s decision to reduce interest rates by another half-percentage point last week was welcome news to trucking executives, who know all too well how flat the domestic economy has become.

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President Bush, warning that the U.S. economy has warning signs of a downturn, sent his tax cut plan to Congress Thursday.

Ryder System Inc., the commercial truck-leasing and logistics services company, expects to cut up to 700 jobs in 2001 year, the Associated Press reported Thursday.

The Federal Reserve cut interest rates again last week, its second rate cut in January, in an effort to bring the U.S. economy out of its tailspin. Analysts expect the economy will start to rebound by midyear, with trucking companies among the early beneficiaries of reinvigorated growth.

Sensing a threat to their already hotly contested American market, United Parcel Service and FedEx Corp. have allied to fight expansion plans of DHL International and its majority owner, Deutsche Post.

In the world of profit and loss statements for trucking in 2000, the strong survived, the adequate stumbled and the weak were buried. Truckload failures reached an all-time high, taking out as much as 3% of industry capacity since December alone, according to analysts.

Missouri state Sen. Ken Jacobs introduced a bill that would raise the state tax on diesl fuel, truck registration and permit fees and speeding fines for truckers.

LONDON — British truckers won the right to add three tons of capacity to their rigs on Feb. 1 as the central government increased the maximum weight for six-axle tractor-trailers to just over 97,000 pounds.

President Bush will allow Mexican trucks that meet U.S. safety standards to operate on U.S. roadways, the White House said Wednesday. Still to be settled is how to implement that decision.