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Navistar International Corp. and Caterpillar Inc. announced an expansion of their growing relationship last week, revealing plans for a joint venture to sell trucks outside North America by the end of this year and unveiling their formal agreement to produce Caterpillar-branded heavy-duty vocational trucks here beginning late next year.

The overall U.S. employment picture remained bleak in March, but the Labor Department’s latest report offered a slightly more positive picture for trucking’s performance during the just-completed quarter.

The U.S.-Mexico trucking dispute continued to grow as more legal action was taken on both sides of the border and a coalition of interest groups stepped up pressure on the Obama administration to find a resolution.

Initial signs of a pickup in trucking activity are starting to surface as the U.S. economy keeps stumbling along, according to interviews with several industry officials.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said an exemption to the federal hours-of-service rules granted to oil-field haulers will be applied based on what the truck is being used for.

The Massachusetts House of Representatives has joined the Senate in approving a reform plan for the state’s transportation system.

Here we go again — the safety freaks filing yet another challenge to the current hours of service, led unfortunately by my illustrious leader, James Hoffa. I think he needs to pull his head out of the sand on this one.

The fiasco over the Mexican border situation just keeps growing, as interested parties turn to their lawyers for relief and others try to turn up the political heat to get things moving.

Oil rose for a second day Thursday, rising almost $3 to close the trading day above $52 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, Bloomberg reported.