Mexican truck is first in delayed NAFTA program

The Associated Press, 10/22/11

A Mexican truck crossed into the U.S. on Friday bound for the nation’s interior, fulfilling a long-delayed provision of the North American Free Trade Agreement that had been stalled for years by concerns it could put highway safety and American jobs at risk.

The crossing came nearly two decades after passage of NAFTA, which was supposed to give trucks from both countries unhindered access to highways on either side of the border.

At a ceremony before the tractor-trailer set off for a Dallas suburb, the owner of the Transportes Olympic trucking company said he considers his fleet’s access to the U.S. interior like being invited to a friend’s house.

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Chamber of Commerce sends delegation to Mexico to discuss trucking issue (in Spanish)

El Diario de Yucatán, 1/10/2011

La Cámara de Comercio de EE.UU. enviará hoy una delegación a México para presionar por una solución “de mutuo acuerdo” a la disputa sobre la libre circulación de camiones mexicanos en las autopistas de este país.

La delegación, que permanecerá en México hoy y mañana, estará encabezada por Myron Brilliant, vicepresidente para Asuntos Internacionales de la Cámara de Comercio, dijo la entidad en un comunicado.

El viaje se produce después de que el pasado día 6, el secretario del Transporte de EE.UU., Ray LaHood, presentase al Congreso un nuevo régimen de inspecciones y vigilancia que permita la libre circulación de camiones mexicanos por las autopistas del país, como lo estipula el Tratado de Libre Comercio para América del Norte (TLCAN).

“No hay un momento más clave para la relación entre EE.UU. y México”, dijo Brilliant, quien además elogió que el Gobierno de Washington “esté tomando el primer paso hacia una solución” a la disputa bilateral sobre los camiones mexicanos.

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DOT seeks to resolve trucking dispute with Mexico

The Associated Press, 1/6/2011

The Obama administration is circulating a proposal for re-opening U.S. roads to Mexican trucking companies, a starting point in an attempt to resolve a longstanding trade dispute.

The Transportation Department released the proposal on Thursday after showing it to members of Congress. It lays out conditions that Mexican long-haul truck carriers would have to meet, including a safety audit, emissions standards and driver background checks.

The U.S. trucking companies and drivers oppose giving Mexican carriers access to the U.S. trucking market. They say Mexican trucks don’t have to meet as stringent safety standards as their U.S. counterparts, which would give them an economic advantage.

Mexico has protested the lack of access as a violation of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

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22,000 trucks at border stopped by flooding

MSNBC, 7/14/2010

Thousands of U.S. and Mexican trucks hauling goods across the border were backed up Wednesday after severe flooding blocked a key trade route in northern Mexico, truckers and authorities said.

Some 22,000 trucks were unable to deliver goods between the Mexican border cities of Nuevo Laredo and Monterrey and the Texas city of Laredo as days of rain from Hurricane Alex and a second tropical storm swamped the highway from Monterrey, Mexico’s national cargo truckers’ chamber said.

The road that was shut since Friday was partially reopened Wednesday but water levels were still impeding many trucks from moving and priority was being given to vehicles carrying fresh produce and emergency aid for flooded Mexican towns.

“We have 22,000 trucks that cannot deliver on both sides of the border and are completely stalled,” said Refugio Munoz, the truckers’ chamber president. “We don’t see trucks moving again until Friday,” he told Reuters.

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Mexico, U.S. make little progress on truck dispute

Reuters, 4/12/2010

U.S. and Mexican officials pledged on Monday to set up a working group to resolve a trucking dispute, dampening hopes of a quick end to a spat that caused Mexico to slap duties on about $2.4 billion of U.S. exports more than a year ago.

“The countries will establish a working group to consider next steps of the cross-border trucking program,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and his Mexican counterpart, Juan Molinar, said in a joint statement after talks in the Mexican city of Monterrey near the Texas border.

In March, LaHood told U.S. lawmakers that President Barack Obama’s administration was “finalizing a plan” to resolve the trucking dispute.

But the establishment of a working group to mull over next steps for resolving the long-running dispute indicates a solution is still not in sight.

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U.S., Mexico closer to resolving trucking dispute

Reuters, 2/8/2010

In March 2009, U.S. lawmakers canceled funding for a test program begun by the Bush administration that allowed Mexican long-haul trucks to circulate in the United States, citing safety and security concerns.

The truck ban prompted Mexico to slap retaliatory tariffs on a long list of U.S. exports, including fruit and industrial goods, worth an estimated $2.4 billion.

But U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk, visiting Mexico this week, said President Barack Obama had pushed Congress to remove the clause cutting funding for the program in recent legislation, a first step toward resolving the dispute.

“We have been able to work with Congress and Obama is very pleased that the language in the 2009 appropriations bill — that essentially cut off the funding for the demonstration safety program — was not included in the 2010 appropriations bill,” Kirk told Reuters in an interview.

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Program to help truckers attracts drug smugglers

Associate Press, 11/24/09

A U.S. program that offers trusted trucking companies speedy passage across American borders has begun attracting just the sort of customers who place a premium on avoiding inspections: Mexican drug smugglers.

Most trucks enrolled in the program pause at the border for just 20 seconds before entering the United States. And nine out of 10 of them do so without anyone looking at their cargo. But among the small fraction of trucks that are inspected, authorities have found multiple loads of contraband, including eight tons of marijuana seized during one week in April.

Some experts now question whether the program makes sense in an environment where drug traffickers are willing to do almost anything to smuggle their shipments into the U.S.

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U.S. Exporters Push Obama to Fix Mexico Trucks, Tariff Dispute

Mark Drajem, Bloomberg, 8/7/2009

U.S. exporters want President Barack Obama to bring a souvenir home from his meeting with North American leaders in Guadalajara next week: an agreement to put Mexican trucks back on U.S. roads.

Makers of paper, batteries, toothpaste and grapes are paying tariffs on $2.4 billion of exports to Mexico after that country retaliated for a U.S. ban on Mexican trucks. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood’s comment on Aug. 4 that he’s too busy with the “cash for clunkers” auto-discount program to focus on the truck dispute hasn’t helped matters, exporters say.

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Mexican truckers sue U.S. for $6 billion

Los Angeles Times, 6/1/2009

Mexican truckers are seeking $6 billion in compensation from the U.S., alleging that its northern neighbor isn’t complying with a cross-border trucking plan under the North American Free Trade Agreement.

The trucking ban on Mexico “is flagrant discrimination against Mexico and its citizens, which not only violates NAFTA but also ethical principals and fundamental rights recognized internationally,” the chamber said in the statement. The chamber didn’t say in what U.S. court the lawsuit had been filed.

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Mexico Will Press Obama to Offer New Trucking Plan

Bloomberg, 4/13/2009

Mexican President Felipe Calderon will urge President Barack Obama at a meeting this week to resolve a trade dispute by pushing Congress to allow Mexican trucks to deliver goods inside the U.S.

Mexico’s government will ask Obama to allow all of the country’s 18-wheelers to operate across the border, Deputy Transportation Minister Humberto Trevino said in an interview. U.S. lawmakers ended a pilot program last month that allowed some trucks to cross into the U.S., and Mexico retaliated by imposing $2.4 billion in import tariffs on U.S. goods.

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An interview with Barbara Kotschwar, Research Associate at the Peterson Institute of International Economics, provides more background on the Mexico trucking dispute.