A pair of antitrust suits filed last year against manufacturers of heavy-duty trucks and engines, one by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and one by the state of Nebraska, have been dropped.
Ending pursuit of litigation is the result of Daimler Truck North America (DTNA), Paccar, International Motors and Volvo Trucks North America (VTNA) filing suit Monday, declaring that California’s heavy-duty electric truck mandate is void and the Clean Truck Partnership (CTP) with California Air Resources Board (CARB) is not binding.
Clean Freight Coalition Executive Director Jim Mullen, himself a proponent of the demise of the CTP, commended DTNA, Paccar, International Motors and VTNA for bringing the lawsuit against CARB.
"It is an absolute disgrace that this action is necessary," he said. "CARB is holding the trucking industry hostage by its refusal to acknowledge the obvious: that the actions by Congress and the President nullified the CTP. The false narrative by CARB that the CTP is good for the industry with false claims that it creates market stability is absurd. The regulations were never attainable and have already caused harm to the industry. The CFC hopes that this action moves swiftly through the courts to bring actual certainty for trucking."
In the months since the state of Nebraska and the FTC filed their suits, President Donald Trump signed legislation that revokes California Air Resources Board (CARB) waivers from the Environmental Protection Agency, and the manufacturers largely have disclaimed the CTP agreement.
The FTC said moved quickly to obtain major commitments from the four truck manufacturers and their trade association that would build on those developments and determined that written commitments made by the manufacturers to the commission, backed by reporting and disclosure obligations, have accomplished the objectives of the inquiry and prompted the agency to close its investigation.
The letters from Daimler Truck, International Motors, PACCAR, and Volvo Group to the CTP state that the CTP is unenforceable and that none of the manufacturers has ever or will ever attempt to enforce the CTP’s terms against another manufacturer. Additionally, the manufacturers committed to acting independently and without regard for the CTP’s provisions in attempting to sell heavy-duty trucks. The manufacturers also agreed not to enter any restrictive agreement with a U.S. state regulator or government permitting cross-enforcement among competitors or containing an agreement to comply with regulatory limits a state has no authority to impose or enforce.
“CARB’s regulatory overreach posed a major threat to American trucking and, in our view, presented serious antitrust concerns,” said Taylor Hoogendoorn, deputy director of the Bureau of Competition. “The Bureau is pleased that the leading heavy-duty truck manufacturers agreed to a course correction. The Commission’s swift action will put the Clean Truck Partnership squarely in the rearview mirror and prevent repeats of CARB’s troubling regulatory gambit.”
Nebraska bows out of litigation
The state of Nebraska's pending lawsuit challenged the Clean Truck Partnership (CTP), an agreement between North American truck and engine manufacturers and California's Air Resources Board (CARB).
Hilgers filed an antitrust suit in November claiming California and CARB have "recently embarked on a mission to eliminate the [internal combustion engine] vehicle and mandate the electrification of our nation’s vehicle fleet.”
Hilgers sued the manufacturers for signing the CTP – an agreement that they would abide by California’s electric-truck mandates even if those mandates were deemed unlawful. The lawsuit sought a ruling that the Clean Truck Partnership is void. Monday the parties filed a joint stipulation of dismissal where the manufacturers recognized that the CTP is indeed void.
This settlement amounts to a significant victory in Nebraska’s three-front battle against shortsighted and damaging electric-truck mandates, Hilgers said.
First, in response to a Nebraska-led lawsuit, California agreed to repeal its electric-truck mandates that reached well beyond California’s borders. Second, the Trump Administration’s Environmental Protection Agency recently agreed to outright repeal the Biden-Harris Administration’s federal electric-truck mandate that Nebraska led 24 states in challenging. And now, without admitting liability, each of the truck manufacturers has acknowledged California’s unlawful attempt to move the industry away from the internal-combustion engines.
