Commerce Express Weekly Road Map:
July 22nd, 2025
Keeping you informed on the latest news/insights in our industry.
Diesel update: The average price of diesel increased by 5.4 cents a gallon. Putting the average price of diesel at $3.812, per the U.S. EIA.
All increases across the board… the Midwest was up 6.2 cents, the USWC was up 4.4 cents, the USGC was up 7.3 cents, and the USEC was up 2.8 cents.
Tariffs: A new round of country-specific tariffs is scheduled to go into effect on August 1st—unless a trade deal is struck with the U.S. beforehand. While it’s unclear whether the deadline will be extended again, as it was in July, August 1st remains the target date for implementation.
On Monday, July 14th, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced that they are withdrawing and terminating the 2019 Agreement Suspending the Antidumping Duty Investigation on Fresh Tomatoes from Mexico. In addition, the Trump Administration is imposing a tariff (17.09%) on most tomato imports Mexico, per the International Trade Administration.
Intermodal: A possible merger between two railway heavyweights could come into fruition. It’s been recently reported by various news outlets that Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific are in talks to merge, with UP acquiring NS. While nothing is definitive at this time, it does spark conversations on what this would look like for the U.S. intermodal market. Neither railway has commented or released statements on this speculation, Freightwaves reports.
Cargo Theft: During the second quarter of this year, CargoNet found 884 supply chain theft incidents throughout the U.S. and Canada. Per CargoNet, this is a 13% increase compared to the same time last year, and a 10% increase from Q1 2025.
Commerce Blog
The American freight rail network is operated by a few, but powerful, carriers. The U.S. has some 140,000 miles of track, the most expansive of any other country in the world, which is owned and operated across four companies referred to as Class I railroads.
New LTL Freight Class Rules Are In Effect
The National Motor Freight Traffic Association (NMFTA) has reworked their freight classification system and officially went into effect Saturday July 19th.
The new coding system will still be evaluating freight on four characteristics: density, handling, stowability and liability. But the density characteristic will be seeing an extra emphasis, to accurately reflect the actual cost of shipping goods. Additionally, the previous 11-sub scale has been updated to a more accurate 13-sub density scale.
The aim of this update is to make the system easier to use, minimize expensive reclassification charges, and provide more accurate freight rates from the start, Freightwaves notes. More updates to this classification system are expected throughout future months and years.
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