Mexico Trucker Online

Dismissing a White House veto threat, the House voted Tuesday to end a pilot program giving Mexican trucks access to U.S. highways.

The Bush administration stressed that the United States is obligated, under the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement, to open up American roads to Mexican truckers, and that terminating the year-old demonstration project would have repercussions for American trucks allowed into Mexico. Passage of the House bill, it said “would pose significant and immediate risks to U.S. interests.”

But the pilot project, which permits up to 500 trucks from 100 Mexican companies access to U.S. roads, is opposed by Jimmy Hoffa and others who say it would eliminate American jobs and that Mexican trucks are subject to less stringent safety regulations. They say Mexico lacks adequate drug testing and hours-of service standards and that the program could contribute to smuggling or insurance fraud.

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FMCSA oft controversial Mexican Cross Border Demonstration Program is at a milestone with 30 Mexican carriers participating with 101 trucks enrolled in the program.

Notice was published as required in the Federal Register and the public was given ample time to comment as required by law.

It would seem that Senator Byron Dorgan’s continued attempts to shut down this legal and so far successful program are not stopping qualified Mexican carriers from entering the program.

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RAMOS ARIZPE,Coahuila, Mexico (MTN) — A plane carrying a load of auto parts crashed Sunday as it was trying to land in northern Mexico, killing the pilot, Lon Macintosh of Middletown Ohio, and severely injuring the co-pilot, Christopher Martin.

The plane crashed before dawn Sunday half a mile (one kilometer) from the runway in Ramos Arizpe, 200 miles (320 kilometers) south of the U.S.-Mexico border, said Segismundo Doguin, the deputy civil defense chief for Coahuila state.

The co-pilot received second- and third-degree burns and was in critical condition at a hospital in the nearby city of Saltillo, Doguin said.

The 1967 McDonnell Douglas DC-9-15 freighter, Tail Number N-199US, was operated by USA Jet Airlines, based in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Company spokesman Donald McNeff said the crew members were U.S. citizens but declined to identify them by name. Mexican officials gave conflicting versions of the names.

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I came across the blog of a DISGRUNTLED REPUBLICAN who has written an excellent article debunking the mythical NAFTA Superhighway.

We all know it makes for good late night radio, giving the loony toons a sense of worth and something else to worry about, and of course, provides the likes of Lou Dobbs and others, fodder to spread their agenda of fear amongst the masses. But this blogger, named Rod Williams, has put it all into perspective.

Mr Williams makes several good points in his article.

I never took it seriously and dismissed it as mere fantasy from the tinfoil hat crowd. I reasoned that if a new roadway connecting Mexico, the US and Canada was being build to facilitate increased trade between our nations, that that would probably be a good thing and was nothing to get upset about.

It seemed that the same people who were alarmed about the NAFTA super highway were the same ones who want us to return to the gold standard, abolish the Federal Reserve and are always worry about the Council of Foreign Relations, the Bilderbergs, and the Illuminati. I was not alarmed. The John Birch Society folks and the other paranoid super patriots are generally harmless, good intentioned, conservative folks who just kind of went off the deep end on certain issues. I don’t get too worked up about them. Then I noticed that the kooky left, the folks who believe 911 was an inside job, started talking about the NAFTA highway also. It is amazing how often the kooky right and the kooky left share a lot of the same concerns.

All good points being made.

According to opponents of this NAFTA Superhighway, a secret organization run by shadowy government figures is in cahoots with foreign corporations who are determined to undermine American sovereignty. This group is supposedly building a ten-lane highway the width of several football fields, with freight and rail lines and oil and natural gas pipelines and electric power lines running alongside the roadway. It will run from deep in Mexico all the way into Canada with feeder roads connected to it throughout. That is not the extent of what they have planned however. This superhighway is just part of a bigger plot to form a North American Union with a single currency and open borders. The North American Union would be similar to the European Union. The organization that it putting this all together is something called the “Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America,” or the SPP.
The SPP does exist but it looks like just another little agency with a small bureaucracy. The purpose of the SPP is to facilitate increased security and prosperity among the US, Canada and Mexico. Other than maybe wasting a little money it appears nothing to be too concerned about.

Another entity that is part of this plot to build this roadway and take away our sovereignty is the America’s SuperCorridor Organization (NASCO), which is a partnership of public and private entities. The map you see is their map but it is not showing a new highway at all, but shows the location of existing interstates. NASCO had been referring to these existing highways for years as the “NAFTA Superhighway,” They advocate improvements and promotion of this corridor. You can think of NASCO as a kind of regional Chamber of Commerce.

We hear this garbage from the “lunatic fringe” practically every night, don’t we? Mr Williams goes on to mention the Trans Texas Corridor and on this point, he drops the ball a little because of recent developments.

The Texas legislature has approved the development of a big ten-lane limited access toll road called will Trans Texas Corridor, which would parallel I-35 and stretch from the Mexican border to Oklahoma. I am not so sure what is so sinister about that. It may be a bad idea, but the elected representatives of the people of Texas think it is good idea, so who am I to say they are wrong. Quite frankly, I like the concept of funding new roadways by toll revenue.

According to breaking news around Texas concerning the Trans Texas Corridor major changes to the plan have been agreed to making it a win win situation for all parties involved.

The revised plan call for the TTC to be built using existing highways, in this case, US 59 from Laredo to Texarkana Texas. Much of this highway is already 4 to 6 lanes wide. There will be NO TOLLING on existing roadways.

Mario Medina, TxDOT Laredo District engineer, said the department hopes in the next five to 10 years to have interchanges and overpasses at all major intersections of Loop 20. The outer loop is in the preliminary planning stages, Medina said, and a timeline for completion has not been determined. As for the superhighway, he said, construction on parts of it could begin in 13 to 15 years, although the corridor is planned to address transportation needs 50 years from now.

“As freight needs become a bigger issue down here … this could provide options for folks that use Interstate 35,” Medina said.

How about that? A logical common sense approach to the issue. And another good example about how opponents of progress will stoop to any level, including spreading lies, fear and hatred to get their point across to the public. sort of reminds you of the debate over the Cross Border Truck Program doesn’t it? Same methods, different issue.

You hear it every night on late night talk shows such as Rollye James and Art Bell and George Noory and it’s expected that some losers actually believe the talk about North American Unions, Superhighways to benefit Mexico and China and the like, and each time I hear these claims, I shake my head in pity at the people who don’t have the wherewithal to think for themselves.

But then I come across a website such as In Freedoms Cause, and it angers me to think that this bullshit is poisoning the minds of this nations youth.

The author of this blog, a 16 year old named Daniel Berkompas who describes himself as a 16 yr. old Reformed Presbyterian living in the good ol’ rainforests of southwest Washington. Beautiful country, Washington State, good people and a lot of free thinkers.

Danny has taken on the issue of the fictional North American Union and the Security and Prosperity Partnership, and for a seemingly intelligent young man, has taken the stance of the conspiracy theorists and nativists who oppose this fictional union.

Some points the young man makes:

Open Borders. They want trade to be able to flow smoothly and easily through the borders, without any more impediments than they can help. For this purpose, they have implemented a “trusted traveler” program, where Mexican trucking companies can register themselves as “trusted” and thereby simply cross the border, no questions asked. No checks, no stops, just breeze straight across the border.

The Trusted Traveler Program is generally recognized as a program where frequent fliers on US airlines can pay a fee and submit to a complete background check in order to obtain credentials to use expedited TSA lanes at US airports. It has nothing to do with Mexican trucks, Mexican truck drivers nor does it allow said drivers to breeze right through Customs without stopping or checks.

Perhaps he was thinking of another program under the US Governments “Trusted Traveler” programs, called SENTRI or Secure Electronic Network for Travelers Rapid Inspection Well, SENTRI has nothing to do with Mexican trucks either. It permits travelers returning from Mexico or Mexican citizens access to a special inspection lane which uses a transponder to identify them prior to their reaching the inspectors.

Wait a minute. Danny must have been thinking about FAST, or FREE AND SECURE TRADE. This enables truck drivers from all three countries to apply for the clearance, pay a fee and receives an intensive background check in order to obtain credentials to enter the US from Mexico or from Canada and vice versa. Truckers cannot enter at will and avoid inspections. Ah, the frivolity of youth and public school education.

Danny goes on to make a second incorrect assumption:

# North American ID. In order to make it easy for Mexican truckers to travel throughout America, they advocate either an ID that would be recognized by all 3 nations, or equal status for all national ID’s.

Guess what Danny, they already exist and have for as long as I’ve been alive and they have nothing to do with Mexican truckers specifically. They are called PASSPORTS The US has them and they are accepted worldwide. Canada also has them as does Mexico. Mexican truckers are required to have them, in addition to a B1/B2 visa stamp, for which they undergo a background investigation including criminal check, before the visa stamp is issued. In addition, Mexican truckers or tourists are required to obtain from the US Department of State, an I-94 entry/exit document. Canada is exempt from both of these requirements.

The third point little Danny makes is this:

# Unified Trade Code. When you have a bunch of foreign trucks coming through, you need to have universal highway code that applies to them. After all, if there is an accident, would you judge the incident by American or Mexican law? The resulting unified trade code would trump U.S. law, making us subject to a form of international law.

Who has heard of a Unified Trade Code? Another example of the lunacy going on in the mind of Jerome Corsi to sell his books? And why does Danny mention trade when he is referring to highway laws and regulations? Of course, Danny probably hasn’t completed driver ed yet, if they still offer it in public schools in the US, but traffic laws generally are the same anywhere you go in the world. But let’s concentrate on Mexico as opposed to the US.

In Mexico, the national speed limit on Federal highways is 110 kilometers per hour. In the US, it varies from 65 to 80 mph. In Mexico, you never make a right turn on a red light. In the US, it is permissable. Stop means STOP, ALTO means STOP. The signs are the same. When a foreign national, in this case a Mexican, is operating a motor vehicle within the confines of the United States, he is bound by the laws of the State and the County or Municipality he is operating in. HE is bound as we all are by the laws of the State, County, City and Federal Government. No special treatment.

The same as when I am home in Monterrey or transiting between the border and Monterrey. I am bound by all traffic and criminal laws and statutes of the States and Cities I travel through. My Mexican auto insurance covers me in the event of an accident the same as a Mexican driver’s US insurance would cover him. Is that such a difficult concept to master?

And finally, Danny makes an absurd comment about the supposed NAFTA superhighway:

# Superhighways. They also endorse the building of massive superhighways, such as the Trans-Texas corridor, which would facilitate open border travel throughout all the way from Mexico to Canada, and the ability to get off anywhere in between.

Guess what? We already have highways that transit the US from the Mexican border to Canada. I-5 corridor. The I-35 corridor, I-15, to name a few. At some point in our lifetime, we will see a Trans Texas Corridor or whatever you want to call it. Our interstates are aging and some date back to the administration of Dwight Eisenhower. The country is growing and the infrastructure needs to grow with it. And one can imagine that when the great cross country interstates were being built, there were similar outcries against them. And where would we be today without them.

A Superhighway, Trans Texas Corridor, NAFTA superhighway, whatever tag you put on it, will eventually alleviate traffic congestion and expedite travel of all types. Maybe not in my lifetime, but it will happen.

But yeah, it saddens and angers me that the youth of today, tomorrows leaders are exposed to this type of crap in their formulative years. And after having heard Jerome Corsi spew his propagando numerous times on Rollye James and America’s Trucking Network, and occasionally reading his articles on World Net Daily, he is definitely not the type of role model these kids should follow.
Thank God 16 year olds do not have the right to vote.

What exactly is NAFTA?
The North American Free Trade Agreement, an international treaty, was adopted in 1994 by the U.S., Mexico, and Canada. It created the world’s largest free-trade zone, with a combined population of almost 400 million and more than $6 trillion in combined gross domestic product. U.S. approval came only after a bitter congressional debate that pitted most U.S. business interests—which saw the treaty as a way to expand markets—against unions and environmentalists, who feared that NAFTA would depress U.S. wages and lower environmental standards. To address those concerns, two “side agreements” were aimed at ensuring that U.S. and Canadian companies would not adopt Mexico’s looser pollution and labor standards to remain competitive.

How does NAFTA work?
It eliminates tariffs—surcharges that make imported goods more expensive than their domestic counterparts—on more than 70 percent of the products and services that the U.S., Mexico, and Canada sell one another. Before NAFTA, for example, Mexico slapped a 20 percent tariff on imported American cars, which made them prohibitively expensive for most Mexicans. After NAFTA, the tariff was cut in half (it was eliminated altogether in 2004), immediately boosting U.S. car sales. NAFTA also set timetables for eliminating agricultural subsidies and for easing restrictions on cross-border commercial traffic. After 9/11, though, the U.S. tightened up on truck traffic into the U.S. from Canada and Mexico, prompting protests that the U.S. was unilaterally changing the treaty’s terms. Such disputes are addressed by a mediating body with representatives from all three treaty partners.

What has its economic impact been?
“On balance, researchers have found NAFTA a slight positive for the U.S. as a whole,” says Anil Kumar, an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. Mexico and Canada have gained, too. In the 14 years since NAFTA was enacted, job creation and economic growth in all three countries have been more robust than in the 14 preceding years. Businesses in all three countries have benefited from easy access to the others’ consumers—two-way trade between Mexico and the U.S. alone has tripled since 1994. “Ten years ago, 70 percent of our clients were Mexican and the rest foreigners,” says Veronica Gonzalez, a Guadalajara-based business consultant. “Today those proportions have been reversed.” But wages in Mexico and the U.S. have stagnated, and the deal hasn’t curtailed illegal immigration as promised; two-thirds of the estimated 12 million illegal Mexican immigrants in the U.S. arrived here after 1995. “What they earn there in four months,” says Dionisio Garcia, a farmer in southern Mexico, “we don’t earn here in a year.”

Have Americans been helped or hurt?
There have been both winners and losers. Jim Cole, owner of Noshok, a Cleveland-based maker of pressure gauges, credits NAFTA with transforming Noshok from a struggling start-up to a company with $20 million in annual sales and 49 employees. “All it’s going to do is create jobs here,” says Cole of NAFTA. “We’re very optimistic.” But North Carolina textile worker Tim Cloninger is one of the many workers hurt by NAFTA. The plant where he worked shut down when it couldn’t compete with low-priced Mexican textiles. “Us poor people in the South, we’re suffering,” he said.

How is NAFTA viewed in Mexico and Canada?
Mexicans disapprove of NAFTA by a 2-to-1 margin, according to a recent poll. That finding reflects disappointment that NAFTA hasn’t brought widespread prosperity to Mexico. “Executives and high-skilled workers have found opportunities,” says consultant Gonzalez. “But for most workers things have not improved.” Forty percent of Mexicans still live in poverty, and small farmers have been especially hard-hit; many went under after they were unable to compete with cheaper agricultural imports from the U.S. and Canada. NAFTA has been more popular in Canada. The U.S. has always provided a ready market for Canadian natural resources—the U.S. imports more oil from Canada than from any other country. But since NAFTA, Canadian exports of goods other than natural resources have tripled. Yet some Canadians fear that competitive pressures will force them to dismantle their European-style social safety net in favor of the harsher American model.

Is it fair to blame NAFTA for Americans’ economic woes?
Probably not. Economists point out that trade agreements don’t have much effect on the total number of jobs. Instead, they shift employment patterns, with some sectors losing jobs and others gaining them. It’s true that America has lost more than 3 million manufacturing jobs since NAFTA’s adoption, but those jobs went primarily to China, India, and other low-wage offshore manufacturing centers, not to Mexico. “My plant manager told me they were sending some of the older looms to India,” says North Carolina textile worker Delores Gambrell. “He said they’d be doing jobs we used to do.” But in political campaigns, during which sound bites play better than nuanced arguments, NAFTA is a handy scapegoat. NAFTA, says American University professor Robert Pastor, “has become this piñata that everybody has put their frustrations into.”

Renegotiating NAFTA
While Republican presidential hopeful John McCain supports NAFTA, Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton both say that as president, they would renegotiate NAFTA’s terms. But that won’t be easy. All three nations would come to the table with its own wish list, and any gains would be offset by politically unpalatable concessions. “If any American government ever chose to make the mistake of opening NAFTA,” Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper warned recently, “we would have some things we would want to talk about as well.” Canada, for instance, would likely press the U.S. to drop tariffs on Canadian lumber, which without tariffs is cheaper than U.S. lumber. And renegotiation would only be a first step—winning congressional approval for a revised deal would be a long, messy wrangle. Like it or loathe it, then, NAFTA will probably be around for a long time—which in a way makes it the perfect campaign issue. “There is no risk calling for NAFTA renegotiation,” says American trade lawyer Larry Friedman, “because they know it won’t happen.”