Thread: Mexican Trucks About to Roll Back Onto U.S. Highways

Mexican Trucks About to Roll Back Onto U.S. Highways

Monday, July 27, 2009 8:47 AM

By: Steve Miller, The Washington Times

A plan containing guidelines on getting Mexican trucks back on U.S. highways has gone through bureaucratic review, the first step toward ending Mexican tariffs on $2.4 billion worth of U.S. goods.

Implementing the plan would quell growing dissent among U.S. businesses that are hurt by Mexico's tariffs and that continue to besiege Washington with claims that doing nothing will result in job losses. The tariffs were imposed as retaliation for legislation enacted in March that took Mexican trucks off American highways, despite the North American Free Trade Agreement's program to let them into the United States.

"The proposal has been through the interagency process ... and it is ready to go to the Hill," said Doug Goudie, trade policy director at the National Association of Manufacturers, which has advocated for the Mexican trucks.

Earlier this year, representatives from several parties with interests in the fate of the trucking program, including officials from the American Trucking Associations (ATA), the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA), the Teamsters union, and state trucking inspectors, were called to meet with Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

The subject was, "Tell us what you want," said Clayton Boyce, a spokesman for the American Trucking Associations.

"It was not a public meeting, but everybody had a say and got to hear what each group thought," Mr. Boyce said. "The CVSA said, 'We'll enforce whatever you want us to,' and the Teamsters said, 'You need to fix a number of things, and even then we won't support anything because it's taking away American jobs.' "

The ATA, he said, thinks the pilot program "was working fine."

After President Obama signed legislation that, among other things, ended the pilot program for Mexican trucks, Mexico quickly implemented the retaliatory tariffs, affecting 89 U.S. agricultural and industrial products from 40 states.

As the weeks ticked by with no action on a plan to relaunch the trucking program, growing seasons for some affected agricultural producers have come and gone.

Some of the 2,200 unionized employees of Appleton Papers are getting closer to layoffs.

The Wisconsin-based company does more than $50 million of business annually in Mexico. Since the 10 percent tariff on paper was announced in March, Appleton has fretted about laying off some of its production workers, whose pay averages about $20 an hour.

"I can't really just say when we will have to do this, but I will say this is urgent," said Bill Van Den Brandt, manager of corporate communications at the 102-year-old firm. "We have employees here who are second and third generation. But we are fighting now against competitors who have a 10 percent price advantage."

Operating with single-digit profit margins, Appleton is part of a group of carbonless-paper producers that supply 75 percent of the market share in Mexico. The tariffs have been a gift to the competition from other countries, he said.

Companies from across the U.S. and their representatives in Washington have written letters, made speeches and lobbied to allow safety-approved Mexican trucks and truck drivers on U.S. roads.

A June 8 letter from 24 U.S. legislators to Mr. Obama noted that "many companies are being forced to shift production abroad or simply stop shipments."

"Over $1.5 billion in U.S. manufactured products and $900 million in U.S. agriculture products are impacted by the retaliatory tariffs."

California's grape-shipping season begins this month, and tariffs threaten markets in Mexico that were worth $58 million last year. California apricots have been hit hard, with shipments down about 60 percent this year as producers fight a 45 percent tariff, said Josh Rolph, director of international trade and farm policy for the California Farm Bureau Federation.

A letter from the federation to Mr. Obama in March warned that California agriculture stands to lose up to half its overall exports to Mexico and that the market could be eliminated for some commodities.

Some companies have resorted to exploring alternatives to U.S. production.

"We continue, as any prudent business would do, looking at potential alternatives, but to date nothing has been compelling enough to put into action," said Anne Crews, vice president for government relations at Mary Kay Inc.

The cosmetics and skin care products giant is being hit with $450,000 a month in tariff charges.

Critics of Mexican trucks in the U.S., particularly trucking unions, back the ban.

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters has long been an opponent of granting Mexican trucks access to U.S. highways. As part of NAFTA, Mexican trucks were to have unrestricted access to highways, initially in the states that border Mexico - Texas, California, New Mexico and Arizona - and to all U.S. highways by January 2000.

The Clinton administration, under pressure from union interests representing U.S. truckers who claimed Mexican trucks were unsafe, blocked the trade agreement's trucking provisions.

At a forum of organized labor in March, Teamsters President James P. Hoffa said Mexican trucks put Americans at risk because they don't meet the same safety requirements as those from the U.S.

"The Mexican government has not held up their end of the bargain to meet U.S. standards," Mr. Hoffa said at a conference hosted by the International Labor Rights Forum, the Global Policy Network and the Economic Policy Institute. "Mexican trucks are unsafe, and Mexican drivers are not required to meet the same criteria that American drivers must meet to earn a commercial driver's license. It's long past time to close the border to these unguided missiles."

A Teamsters representative declined to comment on the pending proposal to put Mexican trucks back on U.S. roads.

A pilot program during the Bush administration found that Mexican trucks were as safe as U.S. trucks - safer, in some cases. A Department of Transportation study released in October found that Mexican trucks had better safety ratings than American trucks, although the department qualified its statement by noting that more trucks were needed to ensure a strong reporting standard.

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A pilot program during the Bush administration found that Mexican trucks were as safe as U.S. trucks - safer, in some cases. A Department of Transportation study released in October found that Mexican trucks had better safety ratings than American trucks, although the department qualified its statement by noting that more trucks were needed to ensure a strong reporting standard.

MY ASS!!!!!!

"Mexican trucks are unsafe, and Mexican drivers are not required to meet the same criteria that American drivers must meet to earn a commercial driver's license. It's long past time to close the border to these unguided missiles."

Everythng that comes over the mex border to here is an "unguided missile"!

A pilot program during the Bush administration found that Mexican trucks were as safe as U.S. trucks - safer, in some cases. A Department of Transportation study released in October found that Mexican trucks had better safety ratings than American trucks, although the department qualified its statement by noting that more trucks were needed to ensure a strong reporting standard.

Right..............what a load of propaganda that is, give me A BREAK!!! WE ARE NOT FOOLS WE KNOW HOW DANGEROUS THOSE UNREGULATED TRUCKS ARE!!!!!

I say shut down the BORDER 100% and watch Mexico panic and stop the tarriffs

who in the hell says we need Mexico anyway .. are we that broke that we need another 3rd world country to prop up our 3rd would country that Mexico helped to produce

I seem to remember that, the Canadian truckers had to meet the same standards as American truckers, while the Mexican truckers got to "slide" on little things like safety and vehicle condition.

No to Mexican Trucking, "We the People" are speaking!

I don't see how Mr. Obama can satisfy all of the workers wanting jobs to stay in America, and those wanting to unionize, and the Mexican government, with his open borders mentally and actions, and the requirements of NAFTA all colliding.

Psalm 91

A then there is Clinton and Treasury meeting with China this week. CROOKS EVERYWHERE!

The Clinton administration, under pressure from union interests representing U.S. truckers who claimed Mexican trucks were unsafe, blocked the trade agreement's trucking provisions.

The media loves to reference the Teamsters, but there are a whole lot more folks who want to keep Mexican trucks from jeopardizing our safety and security than just unions.