Landmark US-Mexico trucking agreement resolves 15-year conflict

[Sinn Fein]

Landmark US-Mexico trucking agreement resolves 15-year conflict

After years of wrangling, US and Mexican officials signed an agreement Wednesday that allows trucks from each nation to travel on the other country’s highways – a key provision of NAFTA.

The United States and Mexico on Wednesday signed an agreement aimed at resolving a cross-border trucking dispute. The longstanding disagreement had come to symbolize growing resistance, especially in the US Congress, to free-trade provisions with America’s southern neighbor.

The accord, signed in Mexico City by US and Mexican transportation officials, would end a 15-year-old controversy that on the US side featured fears of unsafe Mexican trucks barreling along US highways, driven by unprofessional Mexican truckers.

On the Mexican side, outrage over the American disregard for a NAFTA provision led to retaliatory tariffs on US goods ranging from pork to consumer care products – which cost the US as much as $2 billion in exports.

The accord was greeted warmly by US trade, farm, and business organizations – but condemned by US trucking organizations, a sign the agreement could face trouble in Congress.

Under the agreement, the US will reinstate a pilot program for Mexican truck certification that was introduced under the Bush administration – and defunded by an angry Congress in 2009. Mexico, in turn, will immediately drop half of the tariffs on about 100 US products, with the rest to be removed when Mexican trucks actually start rolling across the border.

“The agreements signed today are a win for roadway safety and they are a win for trade,” said US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood after signing the documents.

The accord requires all Mexican trucks operating in the US to comply with US safety standards, and it mandates the installation of monitoring devices to track truck usage and compliance with service requirements.

Recognizing the potential for a negative response from Congress, some supporters of Wednesday’s agreement wasted little time with praise and got right on to warnings against attempts to once again sidetrack the resolution.

“We are encouraged there is finally a positive end in sight,” said Bill Reinsch, president of the National Foreign Trade Council in Washington. But he added, “We urge Congress to refrain from any action that would derail the program or fall short of our commitments under NAFTA.”

Some, who oppose any trucking accord allowing Mexican trucks to come north, continue to hammer at safety concerns.

“Opening the border to dangerous trucks at a time of high unemployment and rampant drug violence is a shameful abandonment of the Department of Transportation’s duty to protect American citizens from harm and to spend American tax dollars responsibly,” said Jim Hoffa, general president of the Teamsters, in a statement. He said the accord “endangers American motorists.”

Mexican trucks are already allowed to circulate in the US within 25 miles of the border. The new agreement will allow Mexican trucks to deliver goods into the US and to return goods to Mexico, but it bars the transport of goods between US destinations.

Both sides in the debate over Mexican trucks are latching onto the issue of the day – jobs – to make their case for or against the agreement.

Secretary LaHood said that by “opening the door to long-haul trucking between the US and Mexico … we will create jobs and opportunity for our people and support economic development in both nations.”

Farmers are particularly happy: Mexico is the second-largest purchaser of US pork after Japan, for example, but pork sales to Mexico have sagged in recent years under the retaliatory tariffs.

But the Teamsters’ Mr. Hoffa says the deal will be a job killer. “The so-called pilot program [for certifying Mexican trucks] is a concession to multinational corporations that send jobs to Mexico,” he said. “It lowers wages and robs jobs from hard-working American truck drivers and warehouse workers.”

The opposing arguments reveal the trucking dispute to be a microcosm of the larger debate in the US over trade. How Congress responds may suggest which way the trade winds are blowing.

 

[whiskeyguy]

The new agreement will allow Mexican trucks to deliver goods into the US and to return goods to Mexico, but it bars the transport of goods between US destinations.

While reading the story, this is what was going to worry me (another way of outsourcing). If the drivers and trucks meet the same safety requirements, and the trucks/cargo are well inspected, I don't really see a problem with it.

 

[Party Rooster]

Democratic union members heads assploding all over the place.

It'll result in a net loss of jobs. Mexican truckers won't mind coming onto our nice clean safe roads, but I can't imagine U.S. truckers crazy enough to want to venture too far down into Mexico.

 

[Sinn Fein]

Democratic union members heads assploding all over the place.

It'll result in a net loss of jobs. Mexican truckers won't mind coming onto our nice clean safe roads, but I can't imagine U.S. truckers crazy enough to want to venture too far down into Mexico where they will get hijacked and kidnapped by drug cartels.

Fixed.

 

[weeniewawa]

they say that they are not allowed to haul any local freight while here but you know they will

their junk trucks will be involved in all sorts of shenanigans and wrecks on our roads

Obamma sure screwed over all truckers in this country and his union supporters too

 

[boardsofcanada]

Obamma sure screwed over all truckers in this country and his union supporters too

If you really believe ANY President is pro union you're a moron. At the Presidential level they are all pro NAFTA globalists. And NAFTA is as anti middle class, anti union as it gets. It doesn't matter how many union people obama appoints or how many favors he does for them because he's still a big time supporter of the number one thing that's destroying them.

 

[Motor Head]

This is going to create a "black market" line of freight. Mexican trucks will drift up into the United States and haul point to point in the United States, risking only a fine.

Please make no mistake thinking that this will hurt the big 5 (Werner, JB Hunt, Crete, Schneider, Swift). They have been pushing for this since NAFTA passed. They already have pilot programs and tons of land down in Mexico. You won't be able to tell an American Werner truck from a Mexican one. Do you think state law enforcement has the money or manpower to inspect every truck???

The big 5 won. Yet another job that paid pretty damn well is going to disappear out of this country. The middle class take yet another shot in the back.

 

[CousinDave]

its all about cheap labor

 

[Motor Head]

its all about cheap labor

Of course, it's all about cheap labor. As long as the 2% get theirs, it's all good.

 

[Don the Radio Guy]

I love how they just sneak mandatory electronic logs in there like it's nothing. I'm glad I don't have anything to do with this god forsaken business anymore.

 

[CousinDave]

This is going to create a "black market" line of freight. Mexican trucks will drift up into the United States and haul point to point in the United States, risking only a fine.

Please make no mistake thinking that this will hurt the big 5 (Werner, JB Hunt, Crete, Schneider, Swift). They have been pushing for this since NAFTA passed. They already have pilot programs and tons of land down in Mexico. You won't be able to tell an American Werner truck from a Mexican one. Do you think state law enforcement has the money or manpower to inspect every truck???

The big 5 won. Yet another job that paid pretty damn well is going to disappear out of this country. The middle class take yet another shot in the back.

Good stock buying opportunity

 

[Motor Head]

I love how they just sneak mandatory electronic logs in there like it's nothing. I'm glad I don't have anything to do with this god forsaken business anymore.

The electronic logs were the final swipe of the sword to remove competition. Gasp! Yes I know it's hard to believe that major corporations bribed the government to obliterate the little guy. Meantime, I'm dealing with truckers that are forced to drive at night or at odd hours because the e-log says they have to go. The flip side of that are trucks parked illegally on entry ramps to the interstate because the e-log said stop, and their is no place to park. If the driver violates the e-log he gets a few warnings, then is fired. His DAC is skewered and he won't get a job in trucking again.

Once the big 5 have used DAC to create a shortage of drivers that could risk shutting the country down, all rules on point to point freight concerning Mexican trucks will go out the window.

We will be Mexico in 40 years. I hope to be dead before I have to see 40 people living in the house next to me with chickens and donkeys in the backyard.

 

[Voss's Tumor]

If you really believe ANY President is pro union you're a moron. At the Presidential level they are all pro NAFTA globalists. And NAFTA is as anti middle class, anti union as it gets. It doesn't matter how many union people obama appoints or how many favors he does for them because he's still a big time supporter of the number one thing that's destroying them.

 

[Motor Head]

Good stock buying opportunity

Sure, until the families that own the big 5 dump the stock and start new companies based solely out of Mexico. Keep it privately held just like the 24+ super wealthy families that pretty much own Mexico.

 

[CousinDave]

Sure, until the families that own the big 5 dump the stock and start new companies based solely out of Mexico. Keep it privately held just like the 24+ super wealthy families that pretty much own Mexico.

Well like you said hopefully we'll be dead by then.

 

[Motor Head]

Maybe they will do a remake of Smokey and The Bandit.

Policia a' La Bandito!
I can see it now, a piece of shit worn out truck running a load of methamphetamine from Laredo to NYC. The bandit driving a shiny black Honda Accord with a wing and a fart can out back. Sheriff Juan T. Myanus in hot pursit of the hero. Good times!

 

[Joker1919]

Maybe they will do a remake of Smokey and The Bandit.

Policia a' La Bandito!
I can see it now, a piece of shit worn out truck running a load of methamphetamine from Laredo to NYC. The bandit driving a shiny black Honda Accord with a wing and a fart can out back. Sheriff Juan T. Myanus in hot pursit of the hero. Good times!

It has already been made man, I seen it on Uni vision last night. I guess I better pack my bags and move to that third world shit hole because if the trucks go south so do the fuckers like myself that work on them.