Transport world congratulates President-elect Biden, hoping for infrastructure compromise

Build back better? The freight transportation world certainly hopes so.

Following his decisive victory, President-elect Joe Biden started receiving congratulatory messages from the freight transportation world.

Typical of the good will shown the nation’s incoming 46th president, the American Trucking Associations (ATA) offered heartfelt congratulations to Biden.

“We congratulate President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Harris on their hard-earned victory, and we look forward to working with their administration to strengthen the economy and rebuild our national infrastructure,” ATA President and CEO Chris Spears said in a statement.

“Trucking’s story speaks to all of America, not one specific political party,” Spear continued. “As witnessed during the pandemic, the resilience of the American trucker is one of this country’s greatest assets. Driven by core values of hard work, service and sacrifice, our industry sets out every day to deliver for the good of our nation and its people—in good times and bad. Just like the great industry we represent, ATA is about getting the job done. While some exist in Washington to perpetuate problems, we come to the table prepared with solutions. We value sound data and honest dialogue. Above all, we commit to working with anyone willing to work with us.”

While Biden is expected to devote his first energies to corralling the coronavirus pandemic, Washington insiders are openly talking about infrastructure being high on the incoming president’s to-do list.

“Looking ahead to the next administration, modernizing our infrastructure has broad support and can drive the growth and jobs we need now,” U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Thomas Donahue said.

“If the Biden administration prioritizes something that can—and must—be done in a collaborative manner, it can set the tone for good governance on other priorities essential to rebuilding our economy,” Donohue added.

One of the first opportunities for President-elect Biden to prove how he differs from President Donald Trump would be to create and enact the $2 trillion infrastructure plan that Trump occasionally talked about for four years but never resulted in a shovel turned anywhere.

The whisper in Washington is that Biden, a 36-year veteran of the Senate, and Harris, former senator from California, may attempt to reach across the aisle to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., on a major infrastructure package. It would be one way both sides could say they are trying to work together.

On the campaign trail, candidate Biden often talked of a $2 trillion plan to build a “modern, sustainable infrastructure and an equitable clean energy future.” On his website, there was a stunningly detailed blueprint of that sustainable future.

“Americans deserve infrastructure they can trust: infrastructure that is resilient to floods, fires, and other climate threats, not fragile in the face of these increasing risks,” the plan says.

Another top issue is the fragile, slowing economic recovery during the coronavirus pandemic. Biden has promised a comprehensive plan to combat the virus, but that plan likely will not include any widespread economic shutdown, experts said.

The economy has recovered from the coronavirus pandemic faster than many expected. But the U.S. remains in a deep recession with double-digit unemployment. The stubborn virus’s “third wave” threatens to hurt the tepid recovery that was already losing momentum before the election.

“The economy is getting better, but the rate at which it is getting better has slowed in the past few weeks,” Regions Financial Chief Economist Richard Moody told Marketwatch. “The question going forward is whether and to what extent it slows.”

 Overall consumer spending is still 2% below pre-pandemic peak levels. Manufacturing is improving but one worry is exports, mainly because of other nations’ retaliatory Trump-era tariffs. Also, some of America’s largest overseas markets are mired in recessions as well.

One key measure of business investment, core capital orders, rose at 4.5% rate in the 12 months ended in September—fastest increase in a year and a half.

But skeptics remain. Anthony Scaramucci, founder of hedge fund Skybridge, who for 11 days was President Trump’s communications director in 2017, recently was quoted as saying the U.S. economy right now is “more anemic” than it was after the worldwide financial crisis of 2008-09.

But separate predictions from the likes of Moody’s, J.P. Morgan and Goldman Sachs are rather favorable on President-elect Biden’s plan to raise corporate taxes from 21 to 28% and tax incomes over $400,000. Whether such moves stimulate or hamper the freight and industrial economy remains to be seen, economists say.