U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is advancing federal rules to permanently mandate English-language proficiency and English-only commercial driver’s license (CDL) testing for all commercial truck drivers.
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According to Breitbart, Sec. Duffy made the announcement on Friday in a post on X, calling for permanent changes to U.S. regulations that would require commercial truckers to be able to speak and read English.
🚨NEW: WE’RE MOVING TO MAKE ENGLISH REQUIREMENTS FOR TRUCKERS PERMANENT LAW🚨
Today, I am proposing to lock English proficiency rules into federal regulations FOR GOOD — so no future administration can ever undo them
Barack Obama weakened this rule and allowed illegal truckers… pic.twitter.com/UwZDqiyAk3
— Secretary Sean Duffy (@SecDuffy) August 7, 2026
Duffy’s social media post contained a video of an official asking a trucker to identify U.S. road signs, but the trucker is unable because he cannot read English.
According to a Friday press release from the U.S. Department of Transportation, under the new standard, CMV drivers unable to sufficiently read or speak English or understand highway traffic signs and signals will be placed out-of-service.
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In that press release, Sec. Duffy stated:
Federal law is clear, drivers who can’t read or speak English—our national language—or understand road signs are unqualified to operate 80,000-pound big rigs on America’s highways. By making these commonsense English proficiency standards permanent, we are closing a dangerous loophole that has cost Americans their lives. The Trump Administration is committed to putting American families first and ensuring the safety of our roads.
In addition to the English-only CDL testing and out-of-service enforcement, the Department of Transportation has pressured non-compliant states, by withholding federal funds or issuing warnings, to scrap multi-language testing frameworks and adopt federal standards.
President Trump signed an executive order in April 2025, titled “Enforcing Commonsense Rules of the Road for America’s Truck Drivers,” which noted that proficiency in English “should be a non-negotiable safety requirement for professional drivers.”
The president’s order also stated: “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.”
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