Trump Signs Order Requiring Truck Drivers To Speak English

Donald Trump has signed an executive order requiring truck drivers to pass English literacy tests, with reportedly help with road safety. This news came after Trump signed an “order directing the Department of Transportation to include English literacy tests for our truckers.

The White House’s official page posted the enforcement saying,

America’s truck drivers are essential to the strength of our economy, the security of our Nation, and the livelihoods of the American people.  Every day, truckers perform the demanding and dangerous work of transporting the Nation’s goods to businesses, customers, and communities safely, reliably, and efficiently.

Proficiency in English, which I designated as our official national language in Executive Order 14224 of March 1, 2025 (Designating English as the Official Language of the United States), should be a non-negotiable safety requirement for professional drivers.  They should be able to read and understand traffic signs, communicate with traffic safety, border patrol, agricultural checkpoints, and cargo weight-limit station officers.  Drivers need to provide feedback to their employers and customers and receive related directions in English.  This is common sense.

That is why Federal law requires that, to operate a commercial vehicle, a driver must “read and speak the English language sufficiently to converse with the general public, to understand highway traffic signs and signals in the English language, to respond to official inquiries, and to make entries on reports and records.”  Yet this requirement has not been enforced in years, and America’s roadways have become less safe.

My Administration will enforce the law to protect the safety of American truckers, drivers, passengers, and others, including by upholding the safety enforcement regulations that ensure that anyone behind the wheel of a commercial vehicle is properly qualified and proficient in our national language, English.