Thread: U.S. Proposal Opens Door to Mexican Truck Companies

U.S. Proposal Opens Door to Mexican Truck Companies

Published January 07, 2011

MARCH 24: Trucks coming from Mexico prepare to enter the highway after crossing the border March 24, 2009 in Otay Mesa, California. (Photo by Sandy Huffaker/Getty Images)

The Obama administration released a proposal Thursday, described as a starting point for negotiations, that aims to re-open U.S. roads to Mexican truck companies.

The Department of Transportation proposal lays out in general terms conditions that Mexican long-haul truck carriers would have to meet, including a safety audit, U.S. emissions standards and driver background checks.

The proposal leaves a timetable and specifics on how many trucks would be allowed to enter the U.S. from Mexico to be resolved by negotiations, which are expected to begin very soon, transportation officials said.

U.S. truck drivers oppose giving Mexican carriers access to the U.S. They say Mexican trucks don't have to meet as stringent safety and environmental standards as their U.S. counterparts, which gives them an economic advantage.

"I am deeply disappointed by this proposal," International Brotherhood of Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa said in a statement. "Why would the DOT propose to threaten U.S. truck drivers' and warehouse workers' jobs when unemployment is so high? And why would we do it when drug cartel violence along the border is just getting worse?"

Mexico has protested the lack of access as a violation of the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement. In March 2009, after Congress failed to renew a pilot program that let a limited number of Mexican trucking companies haul freight beyond a 25-mile U.S. commercial zone, Mexico placed higher tariffs on 89 U.S. products. In August, Mexico added new products to the list after the U.S. failed to present a proposal for resolving the trucking issue.

Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., said producers of potatoes, apples and pears in her state have been particularly hard hit.

"We are depending on the administration to work quickly and forcefully to convince Mexico to remove the barriers it is imposing on our agricultural exports," Cantwell said in response to the proposal.

U.S. industry officials also welcomed the proposal.

"We can't say the Mexican trucking dispute is over, but we can now say that, at last, the end appears to be in sight," Doug Goudie, the National Association of Manufacturers' trade policy director, said in a statement.

But independent truckers said drug-related violence in Mexico will likely keep their members from transporting goods south across the border, making an increase in access to the U.S. by Mexican carriers a one-sided deal.

"U.S. truckers would be forced to forfeit their own economic opportunities while companies and drivers from Mexico, free from equivalent regulatory burdens, take over their traffic lanes," said Todd Spencer, executive vice president of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, a trade association for truckers.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.

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Repeal NAFTA and stop Mexican and Canadian Trucking in US.

Ditto Judy!
The federal government in the past and still has not bothered with making sure that there are even enough inspectors for these trucks coming into the US. At one time in the not so distant past, in El Paso there was a total of 1 inspector.
The feds don't seem to care at all whether they give enough funding to border cites to have the manpower or resources to deal with the result of their congressional actions.

This is the equivalent of outsourcing manufacturing. Trucking can't be outsourced due to its very nature, so insource the cheap labor and associated costs.

American nor Canadian trucks can compete on the economic scales with Mexican trucking, the Mexican part of that equation will not last long as it is the corporate trucking companies that want this.

Then there is the corruption,........naw, no stinkin' corruption coming from Mexico!

Another corporate wish come true.

If anyone ever doubted that the Obama Administration is just a continuation of the Bush Administration…here is another leg of evidence. This little Mexican trucking venture didn’t begin with Obama. It began with all those smiling evil fools who signed our country away with the American people watching.

I knew owners of American trucking companies who lived and probably still exist in a living hell. For years our very own government…both parties… seemed to be on a daily mission to fine and regulate them out of business. The environmentalists were right there on the front lines dogging the trucking companies as well. I remind readers to observe how conspicuously absent the environmentalist are in all of this now that Mexican trucks are the subject.


I have often made the comment that our very own government will not stop until America is completely destroyed as a sovereign and free country. Nothing has happened to convince me this is not the plan. I still remain amused as people make excuses for Bush putting America on the fast track to destruction by outsourcing nearly 8 million jobs…and no I am not forgetting the thousands of other underhanded slight of hand manipulations that can easily be attributed to his reign.

Even more confusing...you can't get anyone and I mean anyone...even Glenn Beck to comment on NAFTA, NAU, SPP, CAFTA… Which leads to convince me we are watching a magic trick show with Fox News being a part of the act. When the curtains open…there will be no more America…but a bunch of third world squabbling invaders fighting for our last crust of bread while our own government convinces us Martial Law will step in if we protect our lives, our children and the future.

Look at the date of this Jerome Corsi article. Over 7 years ago.




THE NEW WORLD DISORDER
Mexican trucks to enter U.S. freely.
Bush administration refuses to answer WND's questions
________________________________________
Posted: June 27, 2006
A U.S. government agency has begun a new audit to determine if the Bush administration has resolved inspection issues that would allow Mexican trucks to enter the U.S. freely.

David Barnes, a spokesman for the Office of Inspector General within the U.S. Department of Transportation confirmed to WND a new audit was begun in March 2006 on action by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

Barnes said he could not speculate on the outcome of the new study or on whether FMCSA had made any progress working out on-site safety inspection requirements with Mexico.
Despite repeated calls, WND received no comment from the office of Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta.

The issue draws heightened significance in light of the North American Free Trade Agreement super-highway plans being developed by the Trans-Texas Corridor project. Next month, the Texas Department of Transportation plans to hold the final public hearings on the plan to build a super-highway up to four football fields wide, paralleling I-35, from the border with Mexico at Laredo, Texas, north to the Texas-Oklahoma border. The Texas DOT expects to have final federal approval by the summer of 2007, with construction of the first super-highway segment to begin shortly thereafter.

Also, as WND has reported, the Kansas City SmartPort plans to open a Mexican customs office as part of their "inland port" along I-35. A brochure on the website of the Kansas City SmartPort makes clear that the ultimate plan is to utilize deep-sea Mexican ports, such as Lazaro Cardenas, to unload containers from China and the Far East. The containers will then be brought into the U.S. by Mexican railroads and Mexican trucks, all headed north to Kansas City, where the containers could continue north or be routed east or west, as needed.

Since before the passage of NAFTA, a decision to allow Mexican trucks into the U.S. on a non-restricted basis has been hotly contested.

On June 7, 2004, the U.S. Supreme Court reached a unanimous decision in Department of Transportation v. Public Citizen, ruling that Mexican trucks under NAFTA could enter the U.S. freely, even if the Mexican trucks failed to meet environmental standards as set by state and federal law.

The decision effectively lifted a 1982 U.S. decision to ban Mexican trucks from U.S. roads, except for a 20-mile zone near the border. The ban had been kept in place by the Clinton administration, despite the passage of NAFTA in 1994, with provisions specifying that the Mexican truck moratorium would be lifted.

Still, thousands of Mexican trucks have not started rolling across the border yet. Why not?

The answer lies with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration in the Department of Transportation. According to Section 350 of the Fiscal Year 2002 DOT appropriations act, the FMCSA must first certify that Mexican trucks applying for cross-border entry into the U.S. are safe for long-haul operations.

An Office of Inspector General audit published Jan. 3, 2005, indicating the FMCSA had not implemented the on-site inspections in Mexico.

As of September 2004, FMCSA had received applications from 678 Mexican motor carriers seeking long-haul authority to operate about 4,000 vehicles. This was up from 232 carriers that had applied as of March 2003, seeking authority to operate about 1,400 long-haul vehicles.

"Still, the procedures for FMCSA to conduct on-site safety reviews have not been worked out with Mexico under the terms of NAFTA," the January 3, 2005, OIG report noted.

Teamsters opposition
The Teamsters Union has fought NAFTA since the 1990s, concerned that the ultimate plan was to undermine union trucking as well as independent truckers who are owner-operators.

"With all the obstacles that still need to be overcome, our government must heed the OIG's warnings from the January 2005 audit," Galen Munroe, a spokesperson for the Teamsters Union told WND in an email. "The motor carriers in Mexico need to adhere to the same regulations and standards that our companies and drivers are subject to. Unfortunately, this seems to be a near impossible task with Mexico's current infrastructure."

The safety hazards being scrutinized by the FMCSA are in addition to ongoing environmental concerns. Commenting on the 2004 Supreme Court decision in Department of Transportation v. Public Citizen, legal analyst Noah Sachs noted the adverse consequences likely to follow this decision:

As a result of the ruling, thirty thousand or more Mexican trucks – which are generally older, more polluting, and less safe than their U.S. counterparts – will be allowed to conduct long haul trucking operations to locations across the United States.

Recent government studies estimate that eighty to ninety percent of the Mexican truck fleet was manufactured before 1994. In a preliminary environmental review, FMCSA concluded that their emissions "can be expected to translate into incremental increases in premature deaths" and "an enhanced incidence of respiratory diseases" in the United States. A 2002 U.S. EPA study reported a "persuasive" link between inhalation of diesel exhaust and cancer.

Meanwhile, the last remaining barriers to the open entry of Mexican trucks into the U.S. seems to be finalizing procedures for on-site safety inspections in Mexico prior to authorizing Mexican truck operators for long-haul entry into the U.S.

Rai7965 you are so right. I see those Mexican semi's on a daily basis and most of them don't even appear road worthy. The tires especially. And if you've ever driven behind ANY vehicle Mexico it's clearly obvious that they are burning the worse of fuels as the smell is overwhelming. Usually smells like sulfur.

I see pickups from Juarez also daily and the ones that I can't believe are these held together with baling wire jobs,bald tires toting three story high bundles of cardboard, The load teeters from right to left and when I'm behind them all I can think about is WHEN the whole thing is going to topple over.
Not once have I ever seen any law enforcement stop them. It's my belief that law enforcement doesn't bother to stop them the moment they realize that the truck has Mexican plates. I've been told by relatives who work with all different branches of law enforcement that they do avoid stopping those trucks because there's way too much red tape and paperwork involved for the officer when it comes to foreign citizens.

"Should Mexican Trucks Be Allowed In US!"

Yes, it keeps down the price of goods. 7.32%

No, it will cost American jobs. 61.03%

No, I am worried about drug smuggling. 28.01%

Who cares a truck is a truck. 3.64%

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"I'd have to say NO!"