The federal government has prompted yet another delay in the implementation of a NAFTA provision that allows Mexican truckers to bring cargo from that country to U.S. markets.
Under the North American Free Trade Agreement, that provision should have gone into effect on Jan. 1, 1995 — more than 14½ years ago.
The U.S. Transportation Department’s inspector general on Wednesday issued a report stating that the department still needs more information to determine if Mexican trucks are safe enough to enter this country.
The report, prepared by department auditors, says that some states don’t adequately report the nationality of people convicted of traffic violations, and that some buses aren’t inspected sufficiently when they cross the border.
This despite a 2007 pilot program that allowed a limited number of Mexican trucks free access throughout the country. Most people didn’t even notice the program was in operation, suggesting there was no sudden rash of accidents due to their presence on U.S. roads.
After nearly a decade and a half, they department should have enough information. And we shouldn’t expect a major risk from Mexican trucks or drivers. One of the NAFTA provisions requires that drivers be familiar with U.S. traffic laws to drive here, and traffic laws and signs in our two countries are similar.
Those facts, and the fact that trucks frequently enter this country and can be monitored easily, suggest that the government is simply ignoring the wealth of available data. Mexican trucks are allowed to operate in the border area. And the benefits of the additional trade those trucks represent are obvious.
Mexican trucks bringing cargo destined for areas deeper into the United States must transfer their loads to U.S. trucks, usually operated by union drivers. That’s the clear motivation behind the ongoing delay, and Teamsters and other unions have made no bones about their opposition to their competition from foreign, non-union truckers.
But the Transportation Department has now stated what it wants. Those interested in this issue should give it to them.
If, after nearly 15 years, it still needs information on the safety of Mexican trucks, and can’t seem to do the work itself, then there should be no shortage of people and organizations that should be able to compile it.
This administration and Congress, obviously beholden to the union groups that support the Democratic majority, have an interest in keeping foreign truckers out, even if it means continuing to violate the treaty. We can’t expect the feds to gather the information that would prove their reasons for keeping foreign truckers out.
Thus, interested parties should employ someone to prepare open, unimpeachably objective data that will once and for all determine if Mexican trucks would be a hazard to U.S. drivers, or if there is no reason to continue keeping them off our roads.
SOURCE: Gaston (NC) Gazette
Related posts:
- Teamsters President James P. Hoffa releases self serving and totally inaccurate statement on Cross Border Trucking with Mexico
- 1 million truck violations cited at border crossing? The rest of the story
- Opposition to cross border program less than expected, but just as nasty
- Is Racism at work in Border Trucking debate?
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