FreightWaves Today | September 9

Malcolm Harris (0:30)

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to FreightWaves Today. I'm Malcolm Harris, of course, joined by the one and only Julie Van de Kamp. Julie, hello.

Julie Van de Kamp (0:37)

Hello, happy Wednesday.

Malcolm Harris (0:39)

Happy Wednesday. Wednesday, September the 9th?

Julie Van de Kamp (0:42)

Yep.

Malcolm Harris (0:43)

Look at me, I know the date.

Julie Van de Kamp (0:44)

I mean, I had to look.

Malcolm Harris (0:45)

It's okay, it's okay. Listen, we got a great Wednesday show halfway through the rest of the week. Been a short week, but been a good week so far, specifically here on the show as well.

Julie Van de Kamp (0:54)

Yeah, we've had some great guests. We've got a great lineup today. We have Shipium CEO and co-founder Jason Murray, as well as their SVP of product, Penny Allen. Then we're going to talk a little bit about the recent Amazon cargo plane accident in Miami as well with Eric Kulisch and the second guest. We've got a great sonar update and we've got some good headlines. Lots going on in the news today.

Lots about tariffs and then obviously about this cargo crash as well.

Malcolm Harris (1:24)

Absolutely. No, I was going through this this morning, believe it or not, I want the truck and just understanding with Eric and just getting the latest on the details of the ground in Miami. Really, really looking forward to hearing from him because this is, there's a lot of moving pieces with this Julie, a lot of moving pieces. So we'll hear from Eric momentarily. I'm excited to get to that conversation.

Julie Van de Kamp (1:44)

Yeah. I mean, I hate having a conversation that involves tragedy and fatalities, but I do think it is fascinating to try to understand the details of it and certainly, you know, what happened and how it can be prevented.

Malcolm Harris (1:57)

I could not agree more and, you know, that we always start to show off with our morning minute and here it is right now.

Julie Van de Kamp (2:04)

We kick things off with a massive trade escalation that's adding serious costs and uncertainty across North American supply chains. Canada imposed retaliatory tariffs of up to 50% on nearly $20 billion worth of US goods Tuesday, just after midnight. The duties took effect in response to tariffs President Donald Trump imposed on Canadian products. After trade negotiations between Washington and Ottawa collapsed in August, the Canadian tariffs range from 15% to 50% and target hundreds of American products including steel, aluminum, clothing, furniture, dairy products, household appliances, and industrial equipment. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has described Canada's response as dollar for dollar attempting to pressure Washington while limiting damage to Canadian companies and consumers. The countermeasures add another layer of costs for manufacturers, retailers and transportation providers, moving freight across one of the world's largest bilateral trading relationships, where US-Canada trade totaled nearly $900 billion in 2025

Meanwhile, investigators are piecing together critical details from Sunday's deadly Amazon cargo jet crash at Miami International Airport. National Transportation Safety Board officials revealed Tuesday evening that the Boeing 767-300 converted freighter was carrying more than 32,000 pounds of contact lenses from Puerto Rico and didn't follow normal steps for slowing down during landing. The plane hovered well past the normal runway zone and then had difficulty getting its landing gear on the ground before running off the runway, plowing into two vehicles and fences before coming to a stop in a grassy area across a public road. The crash killed five people and several injured. Investigators say the pilots did not deploy critical systems meant to slow an aircraft upon landing and seconds before coming to rest, the throttles were set to full power. When the Amazon plane touched down with its nose and right main landing gear, the plane had a ground speed of 181 miles per hour. The cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder are currently being analyzed in Washington DC.

Finally, President Trump has hinted that America may end trading with some of our country's largest trading partners. During a news conference last Friday, Trump suggested the US could stop trading with Mexico and other countries where it runs large trade deficits, saying America could prosper by reducing its dependence on foreign trade. Trump singled out Mexico, one of the United States' largest trading partners, and a critical link in North American automotive, manufacturing, and agricultural supply chains, claiming, we lose with Mexico $195 billion a year. The president made similar comments about Canada and the European Union, saying the US could eliminate trade deficits simply by refusing to trade with those markets. Trump said the US loses roughly $200 billion annually with the European Union, and claimed ending trade with Canada would save the US between $60 billion and $90 billion a year.