Some truck drivers who support former President Donald Trump said they are refusing loads to New York City to protest the civil fraud judgment there that fined Trump $355 million last week.
In a video shared Friday on X by a driver known as Chicago Ray, the trucker said he had spoken to other truck drivers who also said they would refuse loads to the city.
“I’ve been on the radio talking to drivers for the last hour, hour-15 minutes. I’ve talked to at least 10 drivers. They’re going to start refusing loads in New York City starting Monday,” said Chicago Ray, who has 241,000 followers on X.
On Monday morning, Chicago Ray posted another video on X reiterating his support for Trump and boycotting loads to New York.
“I’m not going to encourage you, but if New York City is going to have a judge’s ruling like they’re ruling … I’m just saying I stand with Trump. I’m one of the millions of truckers that stand with Trump,” Chicago Ray said.
The call to boycott loads to New York City comes after Judge Arthur Engoron’s verdict on Friday that ordered Trump to pay $355 million in damages in the fraud case brought by the New York’s attorney general office. The judge also ruled that Trump is barred from doing business in New York for three years, and his sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump are barred for two years.
Trump posted support for the boycott on several social media platforms, including X and Truth Social.
It’s unclear how widespread the boycott will be or what impact it might have on deliveries to the city.
Chicago Ray’s videos seemed to gain some traction. His original video had over 7 million views but was deleted over the weekend. As of Monday morning, “Boycott NYC” and “Truckers for Trump” were trending on X.
Chicago Ray isn’t the only truck driver who has voiced opposition to the civil fraud ruling.
“I vow that I will not make one delivery to New York. NONE! Who’s with me? Truckers for Trump!” an account called The Disrespected Trucker tweeted on Friday.
Zayy The Truck Driver also posted on X that he would not be making deliveries to New York City.
“I’ve been to NYC plenty of times, running shuttle routes from Atlanta to several breweries in NYC and Brooklyn. I stopped for two reasons; hellish driving and Covid restrictions, and now I have more reasons to never return there,” Zayy wrote. “I say this with absolute conviction, when the government continues to impose regulations on truckers, I don’t want to hear from you truckers who believe this boycott will do nothing.”
If the trucker’s boycott takes hold, it would show up in FreightWaves’ SONAR platform in several key data points.
SONAR’s outbound tender reject index would show a tightening of capacity for loads originating from New York, while the inbound tender reject index would show a tightening of capacity for loads headed into New York.
SONAR’s TRAC lane rate for Columbus, Ohio, to New York City would also show an increase in the average price per mile to move a dry van.
The inbound and outbound tender reject indexes, and the TRAC rate for Columbus to New York City, show nothing as of noon on Monday.
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