Editing Deregulation (section)

===== Reagan administration =====

U.S. President [[Ronald Reagan]] campaigned on the promise of rolling back environmental regulations. His devotion to the economic beliefs of [[Milton Friedman]] led him to promote the deregulation of finance, agriculture, and transportation.{{sfn|Kleinknecht|2010|p=}} A series of substantial enactments were needed to work out the process of encouraging competition in transportation. Interstate buses were addressed in 1982, in the [[Bus Regulatory Reform Act]] of 1982. Freight forwarders (freight aggregators) got more freedoms in the [[Surface Freight Forwarder Deregulation Act of 1986]]. As many states continued to regulate the operations of motor carriers within their own state, the intrastate aspect of the trucking and bus industries was addressed in the [[Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act of 1994]], which provided that "a State, political subdivision of a State, or political authority of two or more States may not enact or enforce a law, regulation, or other provision having the force and effect of law related to a price, route, or service of any motor carrier." {{usc|49|14501}}(c)(1) (Supp. V 1999).

Ocean transportation was the last to be addressed. This was done in two acts, the [[Shipping Act of 1984]] and the [[Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 1998]]. These acts were less thoroughgoing than the legislation dealing with U.S. domestic transportation, in that they left in place the "conference" system in international ocean liner shipping, which historically embodied cartel mechanisms. However, these acts permitted independent rate-making by conference participants, and the 1998 Act permitted secret contract rates, which tend to undercut collective carrier pricing. According to the [[United States Federal Maritime Commission]], in an assessment in 2001, this appears to have opened up substantial competitive activity in ocean shipping, with beneficial economic results.{{citation needed|date=December 2022}}