‘I’m driving back empty’: Brampton truckers hit hard as Trump tariff confusion disrupts cross-border trade

While commercial transportation industry leaders warn of mass layoffs and fleet closures, it's truckers like Parminder Singh Dhaliwal who are already feeling the immediate impact of Donald Trump’s chaotic leadership.

For the first time in his career, Dhaliwal, who hauls food supplies between Canada and the U.S. for Connors Transfer Ltd., has been returning home with an empty truck.

“It’s been three days now—I’ve been coming back with no load,” he told The Pointer on Wednesday, a day after Trump’s 25 percent tariffs on Canadian goods came into effect (before most were then postponed till April). “I checked with my contacts, and they told me the tariffs are already affecting supply. I’ve been working with this company for a year, and I’ve never experienced anything like this before.”

Empty truckloads mean fewer earnings and the uncertainty is unsettling for Dhaliwal whose income supports his family.

Brampton truck driver Parminder Singh Dhaliwal is worried about the impact U.S. tariffs will have on his family.

(Supplied)

Beyond the policies and trade debates, Dhaliwal is concerned about the long-term impact the threatened levies will have on his cost of living.

“I’m worried these U.S. tariffs will make everything more expensive—food, gas, rent. If prices go up, how will we manage? My family will suffer financially,” he said.

But his immediate concern is the loss of income due to the lack of demand for shipments, as Canadian goods become more expensive for U.S. purchasers and distributors, while retaliatory tariffs by Canada make it far more expensive to import American goods north of the border. He said it’s a two-way hit.

According to the Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA), nearly 70 percent of Canada’s trade with the U.S. moves by truck. 

Marco Beghetto, a spokesperson for the Ontario Trucking Association, told The Pointer earlier in the week that with Trump’s strategy of using tariff threats “we may see two out of three trucking companies perhaps implementing some sort of layoffs."

Amit Grewal, a representative of the Canada Truck Operators Association, told The Pointer the on-again-off-again tariffs are causing a “bidding war” among trucking companies just to keep their fleets moving as prices are pushed down.

“I was talking to companies yesterday, from small to medium-sized to large companies. Everybody is bracing for the impact. Now the impact is just shrinkage of loads,” he explained.

“You’re going to have a shrinkage of loads – the market share – which is divided among all the companies with the shrinkage of loads. You become more prone to price, and how the price, how you price the loads, and then it becomes a bidding war. Just to keep the fleets going, the prices go down and inward. It affects everybody: the drivers, the owners, and the operators.”

Amit Grewal, a representative of the Canada Truck Operators Association, says the shipping market has already started to shrink.

(Supplied)

Grewal warned that drivers such as Dhaliwal who have established certain routes and delivery contracts through the companies they work for, could face protracted problems unless Trump ends his tariff tactics.

"So, if your fleet is solely dependent on cross-border U.S. trucking, there's going to be a change. If the tariffs hit with the full effect of the… 25 percent” it will be “catastrophic”. 

Companies, he said, are scrambling to find alternatives to keep load capacities filled. 

"So, anyone that's in the trucking industry, some are already trying to improvise or make other plans. I know companies who, a few months ago, started trying to do some container work or some other interprovincial routes. So, they're looking for whoever they can.”

The contraction of the trucking industry will have a cascading effect across Brampton and other parts of the GTA.

"With trucking companies shrinking in business and size due to tariffs, other related businesses will get affected,” Grewal said. “Truck repair shops, truck collision repair shops, truck parts resellers, and fuel providers. Other businesses that provide back-end support to run trucking companies, warehouses, and the list goes on, leading to households and individuals suffering… because trucking moves everything."

As Canada responds with its own tariffs on U.S. goods, opinions in the trucking community are divided. Some believe the government’s countermeasures are necessary while others fear it may worsen the crisis.

Dhaliwal supports the government’s move to strike back.

“The move to impose retaliatory tariffs on the U.S. is applaudable. I think they must pay back,” he said.

But others like Beghetto, warned that it will squeeze the industry financially.

"Absolutely, tariffs are not the answer, no matter which way they're going. I think we are in a situation right now where tariffs in general are going to impact the industry," he said. "And to answer your question, reciprocal tariffs are not going to help the situation any more. It is just going to exacerbate it."

Right now, Dhaliwal said his biggest concern is providing for his family, a worry shared by truck drivers across Brampton, where more than 50,000 residents work in the commercial transportation and warehousing industry.

Crossing the border with shipments is no longer an option for him.

“I’m driving back empty”.

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