US Transportation and Warehousing Sector NAICS 48

May 23, 2025 - Congress Votes to Rescind California EV Rules

• The US House of Representatives and the Senate voted in May 2025 to undo waivers from the Environmental Protection Agency that allowed California to set aggressive vehicle pollution standards in its state. It is the latest attempt by Congress to set aside California’s mandates for trucking’s transformation to electric vehicles (EVs) and its plan for 35% of new automobiles sold to be zero-emission. California is one of the nation’s biggest auto markets and a dozen other states, who can’t set standards of their own, nevertheless followed California’s lead on EVs. Accordingly, roughly 30% of the US auto market could be affected since they followed the Golden State’s lead. Trucking trade associations and auto makers, who have long felt the targets were unrealistic and overly aggressive, supported the move. The bill now heads to Trump for a signature, while California has indicated it might sue to get the rules reinstated.
• Airlines experienced strong demand for flights headed into the 2025 summer travel season, but that good news is also shining a light on the shortage of available commercial jets due to production delays at the world’s largest airplane manufacturers - Boeing and Airbus. Both companies have fallen short of their deadlines for delivery of new aircraft to customers, resulting in industry-wide capacity boosts of only 1-3% for the summer season, according to EasyJet CEO Kenton Jarvis. Europe’s Airbus delivered 56 jets in April 2025, an 8% drop year over year. Boeing, which has been consumed with safety crises and production problems for several years, is slowly improving this year and delivered 45 jets in April, which doubled from March. However, airplane delivery totals for both companies in Q1 indicate they will have trouble meeting their targets for the year, per aviation analytics firm Cirium.

• The federal government wants to revive the US commercial shipbuilding industry and blunt China’s ocean freight dominance by expanding the number of US-flagged vessels capable of transporting vehicles, food, and fuel during wartime. There are currently less than 200 US commercial vessels available for such operations, and not enough mariners to fully operate them. The US has long outsourced shipbuilding and maintenance to the private sector in other countries, particularly in Europe, and those ships are not controlled by the US but are essentially rented out to carry American goods and be available to the Department of Defense in times of conflict. Trump signed an executive order in early 2025 instructing the government to come up with a plan in seven months to boost domestic shipbuilding and train and hire more mariners. The US hopes to eventually combat China’s control of almost 30% of all current vessels on the ocean.
• Transportation and warehousing sector employment increased moderately and average wages for nonsupervisory employees increased slightly during the first 10 months of 2024, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Transportation and warehousing sector prices increased slightly during the first 10 months of 2024. Transportation and warehousing sector sales are forecast to grow at a 4.2% compounded annual rate from 2024 to 2028, comparable to the growth of the overall economy, according to Inforum and the Interindustry Economic Research Fund, Inc.