Mexico Trucker Online

Is the United States still a nation in which a person’s word is his bond and to not follow through on an agreement would be considered dishonorable?

In the past few months, a handful of Americans decided to show the world that some Americans would prefer to not honor our agreements.

In December 1992, the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, was signed by Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, U.S. President George H.W. Bush and Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari. The agreement was then ratified by each country.

In the U.S., NAFTA passed through the House and Senate in 1993 and was signed by President Clinton, who made the passage of NAFTA one of his major initiatives.

A cornerstone of NAFTA is to allow Mexican and U.S. commercial vehicles equal access to each other’s transportation systems for the delivery of goods and services.

This summer it appeared that after much debate and lobbying and despite scare tactics alleging that unsafe trucks would begin crossing our border, the U.S. would finally start to follow through on our agreement.

While NAFTA did not call for a pilot or demonstration program, the U.S. Department of Transportation pushed for this program, with an eye on the safety of Americans. The pilot program would allow a slow, controlled ramp-up of the cross-border trucking program. In preparation, the federal government spent more than $500 million to improve border inspection stations and hired more than 600 new federal and state truck inspectors since 1995.

Although many in the media report that Mexican trucks will be crossing our borders uninspected with hazardous cargo and sleep-deprived drivers, this is simply not the case, although Teamsters with their diminishing membership would have you believe this.

The facts are that the Department of Transportation has met each of the 22 requirements set by Congress, which were confirmed by the last three audits of the department’s inspector general.

Mexican trucks and their drivers must meet all U.S. safety and security requirements before they are allowed to drive beyond the border region. Trucks carrying hazardous materials are not eligible to participate in the pilot program, and each truck will be inspected every time it crosses our border.

The current system of transporting goods to the border region, then loading the goods onto a drayage truck for the short trip across the border, then onto a U.S. or Mexican carrier has been an inefficient Band-Aid since the U.S. stopped Mexican trucks from delivering freight in the U.S. in 1982. This policy is reflected in the higher prices Americans are charged for these goods.

Following through on our agreement with Mexico is good for San Antonio, the U.S. and North America as we struggle to compete in the global market. Isolating the U.S. from Mexico, our second-largest trading partner, is simply bad for business. Trade creates jobs and grows our economies. A strong economy in Mexico will stem the flow of immigrants and create a new consumer market for U.S. goods and services.

I, for one, want to honor our agreement with Mexico. And I thank others such as Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, who recently fought in the Senate to push forward the Cornyn amendment to the recent Department of Transportation bill.

The amendment would have allowed the Transportation Department to use funds in their 2008 budget for a cross-border trucking pilot and established legal measures to ensure the safety of the public.

Others, such as Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., would rather not follow through on our agreements. Dorgan unfortunately pushed through an amendment preventing the Transportation Department from using funds for a cross-border trucking pilot.

I believe the United States should move forward with this valuable pilot of the U.S.-Mexico cross-border trucking program. To not work with our neighbors, to not search for solutions and to not honor our agreements seems very un-American.

-Kyle Burns

Kyle Burns is president and CEO of Free Trade Alliance San Antonio.