Mexico released the list of revised tariffs today is response to the Obama Administrations continued refusal to comply with our obligations under the North American Free Trade Agreement.
The biggest impact comes in new agricultural and processed food products. The Mexican government imposed tariffs of 10-20 percent on products like chocolate, ketchup, chewing gum and cheese — all products of the manufacturing sector, made in American factories by American workers.
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It didn’t take long for the opponents of Mexican trucks, or for that matter, anything Mexican to come out with their discredited rants opposing the US fulfilling its obligation to allow Mexican trucks access to US roadways in the same manner Canadian trucks have been allowed for more than 10 years.
Teamster President James Hoffa was the first out of the chute with his tired sophomoric and overused rhetoric.
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WASHINGTON — A “frustrated” Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., late Monday said she had included language in the Fiscal Year 2011 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD) Appropriations bill that calls on the Obama administration to put forward a plan that would end retaliatory tariffs on Washington state agricultural products by Oct. 1.
The bill passed the THUD subcommittee, which Murray chairs, as well as the full Appropriations committee, and will now head to the full Senate for consideration.
“I am extremely frustrated that the administration has not yet acted while farmers across my home state of Washington continue to suffer under Mexico’s retaliatory tariffs,” Murray said. “I am urging both the Obama administration and the Mexican government to solve this issue and allow Washington state farmers to compete on a level playing field. Since there has been inaction for too long, I included specific language in the transportation spending bill giving the administration a clear deadline of Oct. 1 to solve this problem.”
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FMCSA inspector completes Level I inspection on rig owned by Transportes Olympic prior to the start of the Mexican Cross Border Program. And obscure drivers association now claims that many of the inspections were bogus
They bring up the latest questions being raised by an obscure upstart group, OWNER OPERATORS UNITED, headed by Dan Little, a frequent commenter on this site.
Taking a ploy from the OOIDA playbook, which has been using unfounded accusations about Mexican trucks and drivers for 16 years, OOU has made the claim about “possible falsification of safety inspections on SafeStat in relation to Mexican trucks”
In a press release by OOU, Mr. Little states:
Trucks waiting in line for inspection during Road Check 2010 at Mexican "super coop" south of Nuevo Laredo. Mexico is a full partner in CVSA
President Felipe Calderón’s visit to Washington last month carried high expectations for those who hoped for a resolution of the cross-border trade dispute between the United States and Mexico. The Mexican president was expected to address the U.S.’ failure to comply with NAFTA regulations providing for an open border policy regarding ground transportation of goods across the U.S.-Mexican border. However, Calderón chose to focus his May 20 remarks to Congress primarily on U.S. immigration policy and the drug wars, resulting in yet another disappointing moment in the long saga of the cross-border trucking dispute.
Mexico’s dissatisfaction with U.S. border policy, as it relates to NAFTA, is not unfounded. In part attributable to the free trade agreement (FTA), Mexico has moved in to be the second largest U.S. export market, and is the U.S.’ most important trading partner, with a trade flow of approximately $1 billion a day. But in the sixteen years since the FTA went into effect, the U.S. continuously has failed to comply with the open border provision, denying full access to Mexican trucks on the claims of safety concerns on the part of U.S. trucking officials and government authorities. Last March, after over a decade of patient negotiation, Mexico slapped the U.S. agricultural and manufacturing industries with $2.4 billion worth of retaliatory tariffs on eighty-nine U.S. products. Despite the Obama Administration’s repeated pledge to resolve the trade dispute and heavy lobbying efforts on both sides, the U.S. still remains closed to Mexican trucks.
The History of the Dispute
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NAFTA compliance, finally / Obama will end 17-year ban on Mexican trucks
Safe Mexican carriers such as this one will soon be seen on US highways as the Obama administration does the right thing and fulfills our promises under NAFTA. The time for the lies, fear mongering and hysteria is over with.
The North American Free Trade Agreement was ratified by Congress almost 17 years ago. It’s about time the United States began honoring a key part of it. A sticking point in the treaty has been the provision allowing truckers from Mexico, Canada and the United States cross-border access to each nation’s highways.
The United States allowed Canadian truckers access, but kept out Mexican trucks. Democratic lawmakers claimed they were worried about “safety concerns” related to the Mexican trucks. But what they were really worried about was how best to cater to labor unions and address the Teamsters’ concerns that Mexican truckers represented unwelcome competition.
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