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Editorials

Measures to ban Mexican trucks should be vetoed

Democrats, in behalf of organized labor, pass two bills that violate free trade deal.

The Democratic-led Congress has, in two measures aimed at stopping Mexican trucks from entering the United States, given a clear signal that it's no friend of global trade, or the benefits it brings to the American people. Both measures are a boost for protectionism.

For more than 10 years, opponents of the North American Free Trade Agreement have resisted putting into action the part of the agreement that says that Mexican trucks and American trucks should be able to carry goods into the heartland of each country. Canadian trucking firms have been able to take advantage of the provision. Canadian trucks have been rolling across the U.S. for many years. But opponents have argued that Mexican trucks are unsafe, their drivers dangerous, and that allowing these trucks on American roads would put American motorists at great risk. For years, border states and the federal government have been readying themselves, increasing their ability to inspect trucks, check weights, and monitor Mexican drivers.

At some point, however, the provisions had to go into effect. The United States had to make good on its promise as written in NAFTA. Last week, President Bush gave the go-ahead and the first trucks, under a pilot program, began to roll. A Mexican truck crossed at Laredo last week and delivered a load to North Carolina. Likewise, as provided by the agreement, an American truck crossed the Mexican border at El Paso and delivered its load to its destination in Obregon, Mexico, almost 300 miles in the Mexican interior. The deliveries were the first in what should be a big leap in communication and transportation for Mexican and American capitalism.

Instead of the present time-consuming and expensive transfer of materials from Mexican trucks to secondary trucks that carry goods across the border -- where they are again transferred to American trucks which carry them to the final destination -- the NAFTA provision means that Mexican trucks would carry the goods from Mexican origination points to final destinations, saving time and money. For American trucks, the opening of Mexico to U.S. carriers means a new market.

"Today is historic," said John Hill, head of the Federal Motor Carriers Safety Administration, on Friday, the day the U.S. truck made its trip. "We're giving U.S. trucking companies the opportunity to compete in a new market that they have never before been allowed to penetrate."

But not all are so euphoric. Organized labor has been fighting the enactment of the NAFTA provision for years. And, last week, Democrats in Congress heeded their complaint. First, the House passed a measure that would cut off funds for the pilot program enacted by President Bush. The pilot program is limited to 100 Mexican trucking firms. Then the Senate passed a similar measure. Both measures have the same target -- to keep trucking in the United States a protected industry.

Mexican trucks have been targeted as the bogeymen of the American highway. Scare stories of overweight Mexican trucks and reckless Mexican drivers have been used to great effect in holding back the NAFTA provisions. While federal and state truck inspections must be vigilant, that oversight of unsafe trucks and drivers should be applied to all trucks, including Mexican, Canadian and American. If unsafe trucks are to be targeted, Congress should take a look at triple-trailer trucks and other larger and larger behemoths that are crowding American interstates.

What is really at stake here is nurturing competitiveness and capitalism. The congressional measures, on the other hand, are about protecting organized labor and holding the status quo. Should the measures, which are attached to transportation spending bills, reach President Bush's desk, he should use his veto pen. To allow the measures to become law would betray the nation's leadership on behalf of global trade.

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1. Keep it clean.Comments that are obscene, vulgar, lewd or sexually-oriented will get the ax. Creative spelling of such terms also will be banned. 2. Don't threaten to hurt or kill anyone. 3. Be truthful. Don't lie about anyone or anything. 4. Be nice. No racism, sexism or any other sort of -ism that degrades another person. 6. Keep it local. Do not post direct links to sites outside of Caller.com. 7. Police yourselves. Hit the "Suggest Removal" button on offensive comments. 8. Share what you know. Give us your eyewitness accounts, background, observations and history. 9. Ask questions. What more do you want to know about the story? 10. Stay focused. Keep on the story's topic. 11.Help us get it right. If you find a factual error or misspelling, email newmedia@caller.com or metrodesk@caller.com, or call 886-3697. Post Your CommentsPost 1 September 18, 2007 at 7:57 a.m. (Suggest removal)

The American people have spoken. Mexican trucks are not safe. They are not held to the same standards of inspection, insurance, working hours, or driver substance abuse testing. NAFTA in general should be rescinded, and America's sovereignty preserved. "Competitiveness" and "capitalism" have nothing to do with this, as Mexican truckers will simply undercut American truckers and put them out of business. Truck drivers earn good money, and deservedly so. It's not a fun job, and you sacrifice time with your family and friends in exchange for decent wages. If Mexican trucks are allowed to continue on our highways, American truckers will suffer. And what about border security? It's no far stretch of the imagination to see increased drug and illegal alien trafficking with this scenario. And the possibility of terrorists smuggling themselves and their bombs into the US just became much more plausible. Rescind NAFTA, forget about your "Trans Texas Corridor" NAFTA highway, your "North American Union", and your "New World Order". Red blooded Americans have awakened to the scheme, and will fight it tooth and nail. God Bless America and keep her safe from those who wish to undo her!

Comments:

Post 2 September 18, 2007 at 8:28 a.m. (Suggest removal)

CCavanau, I agree. Just ask the minister who lost his entire family of five several years ago near Chicago because the wheel came off the truck. Warnings were not heeded by the truck driver from other drivers on the CB radio because he could not speak English. Capitalism does not need any nurturing. American workers do. We work harder, longer, and have more productivity than any other industrialized nation in the world. We deserve better.



Post 3 September 18, 2007 at 8:42 a.m. (Suggest removal)

I've never understood how "free trade" with underdeveloped countries and countries without the same employee protections that we enjoy can be “goodâ€