Thread: AMERICA RIGGED Here Come the Mexican Trucks

AMERICA RIGGED
Here come the Mexican trucks
17 states line up to pass tough Arizona-like immigration laws


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Although Arizona's tough immigration law stole center stage last week, Mexico's President Felipe Calderon visit pressured the Obama administration to live up to repeated promises of allowing Mexican trucks to operate in the United States.

Speculation in Washington is that the Obama administration remains conflicted on the issue of Mexican trucks, given the continued strong opposition of Teamster president Jim Hoffa and the importance of labor unions in Democratic Party contests in the coming November midterm elections.

None of this will be easy for the Obama administration as 17 states are lining up to pass tough immigration laws similar to that passed in Arizona.

Americans for Legal Immigration PAC, or ALIPAC, reports the 17 states include: Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas and Utah.

Still, during a hearing of the Senate Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Subcommittee earlier this month, LaHood said the Obama administration was "very close" to announcing a new plan to resolve the cross-border trucking dispute with Mexico under NAFTA.

DOT promises to lift ban

Last year, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood affirmed to reporters that the Obama administration plans to take steps in June to reverse a vote by Congress to take away the money needed by the Department of Transportation to implement what is known as the Mexican truck demonstration project begun under the Bush administration.

WND reported on March 12, 2009, that one day after signing the $410 billion omnibus funding bill into law, along with the provisions ending the Department of Transportation's Mexican truck demonstration project, the Obama administration announced intentions to restart the program as soon as possible.

Then, on March 16, 2009, WND reported that Mexico in retaliation for the vote to ban funding for Mexican trucks imposed new tariffs on 90 U.S. products exported to Mexico from some 40 U.S. cities.

LaHood, claiming the Obama administration was experiencing heavy pressure from U.S. businesses negatively impacted by Mexico's tariffs, told reporters that Mexico's retaliation has had "an enormous impact."

"It is really putting a huge economic stress on the producers," he said, arguing the tariffs had placed an additional $2.4 billion cost on U.S. exporters.

LaHood indicated that the decision on whether to open the border to Mexican trucks as a limited demonstration project or on a wider basis has not yet been made, but he indicated the Department of Transportation planned to bring new legislation to Congress in June.

Obama breaks campaign promise to renegotiate NAFTA

Red Alert has previously reported the Obama administration has decided to ignore a presidential campaign promise in that Obama has decided against renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement.

During the presidential campaign, candidate Barack Obama fired his campaign economic adviser, Austan Goolsbee, an economics professor at the University of Chicago business school, after reporters learned Goolsbee traveled to Canada to reassure Canadians that Obama's campaign rhetoric against NAFTA was just campaign rhetoric.

In the Ohio and Pennsylvania Democratic Party primaries, candidate Obama pledged to renegotiate NAFTA as part of his appeal to Ohio and Pennsylvania workers that have lost manufacturing jobs under the free-trade agreements negotiated by Presidents Clinton and George W. Bush.

Now Goolsbee is back in the White House, having taken a leave of absence from the University of Chicago after President Obama appointed him to serve as chief economist and staff director of the newly created Presidential Economic Recovery Advisory Board, chaired by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volker.

Obama also appointed Goolsbee to the Council of Economic Advisors, or CEA, which is charged with assisting in the development of White House economic policy.

On his first trip to a foreign nation, President Obama traveled to Canada, where he used a press conference with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to backtrack on his promise to renegotiate NAFTA.

The Guardian in London reported that Obama's comments in Canada "muddied his position" on NAFTA.

Obama responded to a question at the joint press conference with Harper by saying that, "Now is a time where we have to be very careful about any signs of protectionism."

Translated, this meant that any renegotiation of NAFTA by the Obama administration might involve fine-tuning some of the side agreements, not renegotiating NAFTA itself in any fundamental way.

Then there was the issue of the "Buy American" provision that was inserted into the Obama administration's $787 billion economic stimulus plan.

Canada was concerned that the provision could hurt Canadian steel exports to the United States and the EU screamed in general that the provision was antithetical to the spirit of the Transatlantic Economic Council that President Bush signed into effect with the EU in April 2008.

The Obama administration did not object when language was added to the economic stimulus bill to specify that the "Buy American" provision would be interpreted to buy American when doing so was consistent with U.S. international trade obligations.

In other words, the "Buy American" language in the bill no longer meant "buy American," if there was a free-trade agreement that overrode that obligation.

Mexican trucks and the drug war

In an article titled "Doing business in the time of Mexican drug chaos," Joel Millman wrote in the Wall Street Journal that on April 9, U.S. Customs agents apprehended an 18-wheeler Mexican truck crossing into El Paso, Texas, with more than 9,000 pounds of marijuana hidden among auto parts bound for U.S. factories.

Millman also reported that California trucking firm Rapid Transfer Express Inc. has had four of its trucks hijacked in Mexico this year, even after the company took the extraordinary precaution of installing GPS systems on its trucks to monitor location via satellite.

Reuters reported that Mexican law-enforcement officials are combating a new wave of free-lance crime gangs that have become more daring and sophisticated hijacking trucks in Mexico.

Mexican truck battle lines ready to reform

If the Obama administration pushes to readmit Mexican trucks on U.S. roads, battle lines once again can be expected to form along lines of determining whether or not Mexican trucks and truck drivers will be able to comply with U.S. standards.

The Mexican truck issue was rancorous during the last two years of the Bush administration as Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters fought off repeated efforts by Congress to confine Mexican trucks to a narrow 20-mile commercial area north of the southern border.

WND reported that after the DOT Mexican truck demonstration project had begun, an examination of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration database revealed hundreds of safety violations by Mexican long-haul rigs rolling on U.S. roads under the project.

The contention of opponents to the Mexican truck demonstration project has been that Mexican trucks and truck drivers do not reliably meet U.S. standards.

WND also reported that in an argumentative Senate hearing in March 2008, North Dakota Democratic Sen. Byron Dorgan in tight questioning got Peters to admit that Mexican drivers were being designated at the border as "proficient in English" even though they could explain U.S. traffic signs only in Spanish.

In the tense hearing, Dorgan accused Peters of being "arrogant" and in reckless disregard of a congressional vote to stop the Mexican trucking demonstration project by taking funds away.

As WND reported, opposition in the House was led by Rep. DeFazio, who in September 2007 accused the Bush administration of having a "stealth plan" to allow Mexican long-haul rigs on U.S. roads.

"This administration [of President George W. Bush] is hell-bent on opening our borders," DeFazio then said, "but has failed to require that Mexican drivers and trucks meet the same safety and security standards as U.S. drivers and trucks."

Previously, Peters had argued the wording of the Dorgan amendment did not prohibit the Transportation Department from stopping a Mexican truck demonstration project that DOT has already begun, even if the measure prohibited DOT from starting any new Mexican truck demonstration project.

This message is brought to you by the LaFong Foundation for a Safe and Free America.

The trucks are not allowed to haul cargos point to point within the United States just deliver Mexican cargos to American buyers and are expected to return there empty.

Some of the Mexican drivers worked here legally during part of their driving careers.

Mexico permits American companies to own Mexican trucking firms but we do not permit them to own ours.

The Mexicans are saying they respect our right to test the drivers and inspect the trucks

In my profession, IT, we started seeing a lot of articles about some sort of "shortage" - then thousands of planeloads of foreign workers started arriving. Better watch out: http://money.cnn.com/2010/06/09/news/ec ... n&hpt=Sbin

Thank you, Carl, for this post. Once these Mexican trucks are allowed in, they're in - there will be no way to get them back out. There have been numerous accidents already involving unsafe Mexican tour buses which are now operating in the United States; in each incident, there also has been a Mexican driver. So far, however, none of these have been found carrying drugs. But I think it's fairly safe to assume that not every passenger on buses which travel directly between Mexico (or the Texas Valley) and U.S. cities is "legally documented" to be in this country.

Years ago my dad was an independent trucker with his own tractor. It was nearly impossible to get a load back in the 1980s! I can't imagine the new competition for today's truckers now that another country will have free reign of our roads. Roads which WE pay for with our taxes and repair with our taxes. My poor mom had to keep reams of paperwork and his meager profits were shared among gas tax, road tax, licenses, insurance, etc. which I am sure NO MEXICAN truck will have to provide. Not only that, safety issues will be waived and they probably will be exempt from stopping at weigh stations!! Keep a watch on this, folks!!

keekee wrote:
"Years ago my dad was an independent trucker with his own tractor. It was nearly impossible to get a load back in the 1980s! I can't imagine the new competition for today's truckers now that another country will have free reign of our roads. Roads which WE pay for with our taxes and repair with our taxes. My poor mom had to keep reams of paperwork and his meager profits were shared among gas tax, road tax, licenses, insurance, etc. which I am sure NO MEXICAN truck will have to provide. Not only that, safety issues will be waived and they probably will be exempt from stopping at weigh stations!! Keep a watch on this, folks!!"

Our one dependable ally on this issue in Congress now is Peter DeFazio (D-Ore), who has spoken up strongly against the program. The Congressman who formerly fought tooth and nail against it, Byron Dorgan (D-SD), is retiring this year. And, disappointingly he said that he didn't object to allowing Mexican trucks into the country as long as they were "safe". I hope this isn't DeFazio's position. I have written thanking him, and I'm sure other communications of support would be appreciated. Good people like keekee's hard-working parents deserve our every support - not to mention the integrity of our laws and the safety of our roads!

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Wanted: 400,000 U.S. truck drivers

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Years ago my dad was an independent trucker with his own tractor. It was nearly impossible to get a load back in the 1980s! I can't imagine the new competition for today's truckers 1)now that another country will have free reign of our roads. 2)Roads which WE pay for with our taxes and repair with our taxes. My poor mom had to keep reams of paperwork and his meager profits were 3)shared among gas tax, road tax, licenses, insurance, etc. which I am sure NO MEXICAN truck will have to provide. 4)Not only that, safety issues will be waived and 5)they probably will be exempt from stopping at weigh stations!! Keep a watch on this, folks!!

Wrong Wrong Wrong Wrong Wrong

1) Mexican trucks can only carry inbound cargo from Mexico

2) The roads are heavily subsidized by the general public.

3) Mexican trucks will have to also pay all of those charges

4) No the safety issues are a requirement of Mexican trucks on US roads

5) No they will be required to go through all the same weigh stations

Wow a post almost completely devoid of reality

Originally Posted by keekee

. . .safety issues will be waived and they probably will be exempt from stopping at weigh stations!! Keep a watch on this, folks!!

Mexican trucks have to stop at every scale that American trucks have to stop at, and they go through the same safety inspections in every state.

Below is the actual information from Rep. DeFazio's Congressional website, together with a copy of his April 14th letter signed by 78 Congressional representatives. They come from both parties, all parts of the country, and range from the very conservative to the very liberal. I hope they will succeed in getting this program repealed and that section of NAFTA renegotiated. In fact, I wish they could get all of NAFTA repealed!

DEFAZIO LEADS BIPARTISAN LETTER URGING REPEAL OF MEXICAN TRUCK PROGRAM AND ADDRESSES RETALITORY TARIFFS

WASHINGTON, DC—Rep. DeFazio (D-Springfield) today led seventy eight Members of Congress in sending a bipartisan letter to Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood and US Trade Representative Ronald Kirk. The letter asks that they renegotiate the section of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that opens U.S. roadways to unsafe Mexican trucks.

“Mexico has no meaningful system for commercial driver’s licenses, drug testing or hours of service. This is a trade agreement that threatens the safety of the American public. Mexico has no right to use tariffs to force unsafe trucks with exhausted over-worked, under-paid drivers into the United States,â€