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A welder on an assembly line at a Stoughton Trailers facility. (Stoughton Trailers)

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U.S. trailer orders came back down in April after a short-lived spike the previous month, ACT Research reported.

Preliminary net data showed orders fell 32% to 9,400 units when compared to the same time last year. They also dropped 57% from March. Monthly trailer orders over the past two years have mostly trended below the previous year, but there have been occasional exceptions, like the 63% year-over-year increase that was reported in March.

“After an upside surprise in March, lower April net order intake was expected, as it is one of the weaker order months of the annual cycle,” said Jennifer McNealy, director of commercial vehicle market research at ACT. “More concerning given the state of industry backlogs, but again not surprising, was that this April’s net orders were well below last April’s order intake, which itself was a muted year.”

ACT is maintaining its expectation for subdued build and order intake levels during 2025. This is based on weak for-hire truck market fundamentals, low used equipment valuations, relatively full inventories, high interest rates and the ambiguity of policy shifts. McNealy speculated that March orders were a pull-forward in advance of tariffs.

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“Since April, things have been ... much more quiet,” said Ron Jake, director of marketing at Stoughton Trailers. “There’s a lot more hesitancy to place orders we’re seeing in the marketplace. The volume of quotes has slowed down significantly. So a lot of customers we’re hearing from are just waiting, and hesitating, to do anything to pull the trigger, just not knowing what’s going to happen out there in the trucking market with all the changes that have been going on.”

President Donald Trump has made tariffs a cornerstone of his foreign trade agenda, including a 10% baseline tariff for trading partners generally. But many of his other proposed tariffs have been delayed or merely threatened as his administration works to renegotiate trade deals. China is a major focus, with the country and the U.S. agreeing on a 90-day postponement of higher tariffs on each other’s imports on May 12. Currently, the U.S. rate on Chinese goods is 30%, and China’s rate on American products is 10%.

“In my view, I think, the freight environment was improving ever so slightly in Q4 and Q1 this year,” Jake said. “We were seeing an uptick in business from the previous two years. But with all the announcements about tariffs and all that uncertainty, on top of, really, not having very good freight fundamentals in the marketplace, it just unfortunately has made all the customers stay put for a little while.”

ACT also noted in its report that the seasonal adjustment rate at this point in the annual order cycle comes in at 11,400 units. The report pointed out that this is nearly halving the seasonally adjusted intake of 22,700 the previous month.

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Dan Taylor of Western Trailers says the company is "working a heck of a slot harder to get orders than we have, just waiting, working with people." (Western Trailers via Facebook)

“April was slower than last year for sure,” said Dan Taylor, director of sales at Western Trailer. “It was OK, but not great. We’re working a heck of a lot harder to get orders than we have, just waiting, working with people. The whole market is just off due to the whole tariff surcharge impact. It’s hard for a lot of our customers, they’re telling me, to make a long-term decision at this point in time.”

Taylor credited the diversity of his customer base for helping bring in business despite overall market conditions. He noted that the purchases tend to be what is in stock as opposed to ordering, which might mean companies are pushing their trailers until they have no choice but to replace them.

“They’re buying more of what we have in stock,” Taylor said. “They’ve identified the need. We’ve seen this before when the economy is off. I won’t say it slowed down; I’m going to say it’s off. With the economy a little off, we’ve seen more people buy what’s in stock.”

Taylor noted that a major hindrance for customers has been overcapacity remaining in the market. Because of that, there are still a lot of drivers working for lower rates, and thus there is less opportunities to invest in new equipment.

“Q1 ended about as expected, with Q2 following quickly in its footsteps,” said Theresa Check, head of sales at Hyundai Translead. “Dealers and customers continue to show reluctance and uncertainty in this receding market, while chassis and flatbeds have started to see signs of optimism. We have maintained a flexible operation so that we may respond to market demand changes as they occur throughout the year.”

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