American truckers are warning that sky-high diesel prices are eating into their profits and putting pressure on trucking companies to cut routes, raising concerns that some drivers could be forced off the road and the pain could eventually reach Americans at the grocery store.
“Fuel prices is going up, the rates are not going up,” Miami-based trucker Suave Dorsett told Fox News Digital. “So it’s hurting our pockets real bad.”
The warnings come as the Iran war sends diesel prices soaring, squeezing American truckers even as President Donald Trump predicts oil prices will fall “like a stone” amid expectations that the conflict could soon end. Drivers told Fox News Digital the damage is already mounting, with routes being cut and smaller operators facing mounting financial pressure.
Dorsett is among several truckers who told Fox News Digital that soaring fuel costs are cutting into their earnings and putting pressure on an industry responsible for moving goods across the country, with one driver reporting fewer routes and others warning that smaller operators could eventually be forced to park their rigs.
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The national average for diesel stood at roughly $6.32 per gallon Monday, according to AAA — up from about $3.69 at the same time last year, a jump of more than 70%. The surge has also eclipsed the previous record of $5.816 per gallon, set in June 2022 under former President Joe Biden as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent global energy prices soaring.
For Dorsett, who has been driving for nine years, the price at the pump was even steeper. He told Fox News Digital he was seeing diesel at $7.40 per gallon while traveling through Ohio.
Dorsett said the fuel spike comes as truckers are already shouldering a long list of expenses, including diesel exhaust fluid (DEF), which helps reduce harmful emissions, parking, showers, weighing and reweighing loads, repairs and towing.
And if diesel prices remain elevated, Dorsett predicted smaller operators will be the first to buckle.
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“Some of the smaller companies, like the smaller owner ops, would slowly fall off and it’s going to create a chain effect,” Dorsett said, predicting a “domino effect” that could eventually put pressure on larger carriers.
Tyler Rinaldi, a Louisiana trucker with about a decade of experience who transports hazardous materials and other freight for an LTL company, said he has already seen weekend routes scaled back at his company.
“I’ve seen a lot of routes get cut,” Rinaldi told Fox News Digital. “They’re not really running like they want to on the weekends right now.”
“I definitely see a lot change because of it at my company, slowly, but it’s starting to be more noticeable,” he added.
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Rinaldi, who is married with two children, said fewer routes could eventually mean less money coming home.
“When they start cutting routes and trying to limit the expenses on what routes they send out,” Rinaldi said, “that takes away from the people that work in the company’s pockets.”
Avante Jackson, an 11-year trucking veteran from Charlotte, North Carolina, who transports steel and other construction materials, said rising diesel prices are forcing truckers to take a harder look at whether the money they bring in is enough to keep their businesses running.
“If I’m putting all of my profit in the tank,” Jackson said, “at the end of the day, what do I have left to keep the doors open?”
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Jackson cautioned against “fear-mongering” about potential shortages, but said a widespread loss of drivers could ultimately reach consumers.
“It really could hit the community,” he said.
The latest diesel spike echoes a similar crunch in 2022 under former President Joe Biden, when the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent fuel prices flying. Diesel reached a then-record national average of $5.82 per gallon that June, squeezing truckers as operating expenses climbed.
According to the American Transportation Research Institute, trucking fuel costs surged 53.7% in 2022, helping drive a 21.3% jump in overall operating costs to a then-record $2.25 per mile. The latest spike threatens to revive those pressures, particularly for smaller operators with less room to absorb rising fuel bills.
As the Trump administration pushes international partners to release emergency fuel reserves in an effort to bring prices down, the truckers had their own message for the president: don’t forget about the drivers absorbing the costs on the road.
“My message to President Trump would just be to think about who’s keeping America moving,” Jackson told Fox News Digital. “Think about the little guys out here each and every day.”
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“We truly are the backbone of America, we keep America moving,” he added. “We just want you just to think about us and put yourself in our shoes…Let’s try to get the fuel prices down and let’s try to just make more of a change,” he said. “We know we can do better.”
Trump defended higher fuel prices Thursday as a temporary sacrifice in the fight to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, saying on Truth Social that rising gasoline costs were “a small price to pay for Iran not having a Nuclear Weapon.”
Trump said last week that European countries had agreed to release diesel from their stockpiles after he pressed them to put more supply on the market. The G7 subsequently agreed to release 100 million barrels of oil and fuel products from previously pledged emergency reserves over four months, including a substantial diesel release during the first 20 days, in an effort to ease pressure on global fuel markets.
Trump also said his administration would not pursue a diesel export ban and expressed confidence that oil prices would eventually return to levels seen before the latest spike, though energy markets remain under pressure from global supply disruptions.
Trump predicted during a Wednesday night rally in San Antonio, Texas, that oil prices would “come down like a rock” once the war with Iran ends, insisting the conflict would be over “very soon.”
“This week, President Trump signed an executive order that will quickly cut diesel costs and put money directly back into the pockets of American truckers, saving them over $100 every time they refill at the gas pump. Last week, he negotiated a deal with our European counterparts to release 100 million barrels—mainly diesel—from their stockpiles to add supply to the market and lower costs,” White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers told Fox News Digital.
“The President wants to see prices at the pump fall and continues to take historic action to ease temporary disruptions as oil flowing through the Strait of Hormuz approaches pre-conflict levels,” Rogers added.