Mexico Trucker Online Articles

Rumors of expanded tariff’s to target Beef, Pork and Chicken processors

A new week and more misinformation coming from OOIDA as they push their lemmings to urge their Congresspeople to sign on to Rep. Peter DeFazio’s silly little letter calling for the Obama Administration to discriminate once more, against Mexico, by renegotiating the provision that allows Mexican trucks access to the United States.

It’s also the eve of the first anniversary of the legal tariff’s that Mexico instituted in retaliation for the closure of the Cross Border Demonstration Project.

Our sources confirm that the rumors circulating that the Mexican government may update a trade retaliation list against U.S. products is true. This new list is very likely to include tariff’s on beef, pork and chicken products exported to Mexico.
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Three years later, the underlying cause to opposition of Mexican trucks is the same

Trucks such as these Mexican long haul rigs are as modern and safe as anything on US highways, driven by men highly skilled in their operation

As the opponents come out from under their rocks to oppose the Mexican trucks once again, and in their opposition, costing Americans tens of thousands of jobs, it’s interesting to go back three years and review the opinions of others interested in this issue.

The following, appeared in the NEW STANDARD on March 28,2007, and the writers reasoning then resonates just as much in the renewed debate. After all, nothing is being said about the Canadians running amok in the US, breaking our cabotage rules, many who speak little or no English, and many from Muslim countries who are avowed enemies of the United States.

Michelle Chen writes:

Labor and public-interest groups are arguing that permitting Mexican truckers to drive US roads under NAFTA raises safety concerns. But the facts suggest otherwise, and some activists see a deeper problem.
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OOIDA resumes false claims about Mexican trucks in latest press release.

This is one of the trucks OOIDA and other opponents claim is unsafe and continue to try to keep off US highways through campaigns of misinformation and preying on the prejudice and fears of it's members and the public. Most that would see this rig on US highways, or the one parked on the shoulder, would not know it was a Mexican carrier.

It only took the mention of resuming talks on allowing Mexican trucks into the United States, as we’re obligated to do under the NAFTA treaty for OOIDA to begin another campaign of misinformation and preying upon the fears and prejudices of their members and the general public.

Today, they issued a press release inappropriately titled, “The U.S. must challenge Mexico’s tariff bullying
_{Highway safety and security must trump free trade ideology}“

I say inappropriate because of the title and the message being sent. We should be challenges those who put protectionism and their own self interests ahead of the US complying with their obligations and keeping their word.
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Discussions to open border to Mexican trucks brings same old tired information from same tired sources.

The debate over Mexican trucks is back and becoming heated as the opponents resort to the same tired rhetoric that has been debunked time and again. This time, we believe the outcome will be different

The Obama administration has taken the first step toward renewing a pilot program that allows Mexican?truckers to operate within the U.S., as stipulated in the North American Free Trade Agreement, but still must work with Congress on fashioning a new program, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said Tuesday.

U.S.Trade Representative Ron Kirk told a news conference in Mexico last week that the Obama administration had taken the first step in coming up with a new program when it convinced Congress not to prohibit a cross-border program in the 2010 omnibus spending bill.

With that being said, the mexenophobes are beginning to come out from under their rocks. Some, such as Teamster’s Jimmy Hoffa, using the same old tired and debunked rhetoric that he’s spewed for the past 18 years.

Others, such as OOIDA, seems to have largely abandoned the misinformation about the safety concerns and are now attacking the tariffs, and a report last year concerning the C-TPAT program.
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NAFTA dispute costing Texas firms millions

“We’re the FedEx of Mexico,” said Christian Bruns, general manager of Estafeta USA. “Since we’re a majority-held Mexican company, we cannot go intrastate in the U.S. We have to use third parties in the U.S. instead of taking our own trucks.”

NAFTA, one of the most contentious trade agreements signed by the U.S., was meant to unite the U.S., Mexico and Canada economically. But 15 years after it was enacted, it has spurred endless division, the latest being a high-level spat between the U.S. and Mexico that critics say is hurting the profitability of American companies.

Under the North American Free Trade Agreement, the U.S. was supposed to allow Mexican trucks access to U.S. highways. But American unions have put up roadblocks for years by accusing Mexican trucks of being unsafe.

Since NAFTA went into effect in 1994, Mexican trucks have not had access to the U.S. market except for a September 2007 pilot program. That program allowed 100 trucking companies to move cargo beyond U.S. border towns but ended in March when the U.S. government cut its funding.

A few days after that, Mexico retaliated by slapping duties as high as 45 percent on 89 U.S. products, including pencils, pears and potatoes.
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U.S., Canada, Mexico making progress on trade problems

A junk Mexican truck? I don’t think so. Image taken at Otay Mesa Pilot of a dual registered W900

Canada’s trade minister said Monday that some progress is being made on a nagging trade issue with the United States, while U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said a tangled dispute with Mexico over cross-border trucking and California Christmas trees might resolve itself next year.

Welcoming Cabinet-level Mexican and Canadian trade officials to the city where he served as mayor, Kirk said language that removed funding for the Mexican truck program has been restored in next year’s budget bill.

“We won’t be handcuffed by prohibitory language,” he said.

When the border was closed to 500 U.S.-certified trucks in a pilot program, Mexico imposed retaliatory tariffs on 89 U.S. exports ranging from cosmetics and toilet paper to Christmas trees. The truck-and-trade issue put the Obama administration in a political fix because organized labor opposed allowing Mexican trucks an open road north of the border.
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Hoffa rejects responsiblity for job losses over Mexican truck dispute

On Tuesday, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce released a report that looked at the effect of three trade actions/inactions by the Administration are having and will have on American workers.

One of the three actions concerned the failure to implement NAFTA trucking provisions, which have been challenged for more than 15 years. Of course, Teamsters President James Hoffa has to chime in with his usual irrelevant opinion.
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OIG Report – Political aims keep a deal idling slowly

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.
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