Mexico Trucker Online

If Congress doesn’t like certain provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement, it can ask President Barack Obama to renegotiate its terms. In fact on the campaign trail, candidate Obama pledged to do just that.

What Congress and the White House shouldn’t do is unilaterally abrogate a trade agreement. Violating treaty obligations cheapens the diplomatic stature of the United States, making it harder to negotiate such agreements. And it encourages retaliation that harms U.S. economic interests.

In this case, Congress is reneging on a 15-year-old obligation to open the border to long-haul trucking. The southern border, that is.

Canadian truckers can make deliveries far into the United States, in accordance with NAFTA. But opponents have stonewalled efforts to allow Mexican trucks to venture beyond a commercial zone that extends only 25 miles from the border.

Some of the concerns expressed by opponents were valid, especially with regard to safety. But the Bush administration addressed those concerns with a pilot program that put U.S. inspectors in Mexico, held Mexican trucks to the same safety standards as U.S. trucks and required Mexican drivers to obtain insurance from U.S.-licensed firms.

The pilot program has long been a target of free trade opponents. A measure inserted in the $410 billion omnibus spending bill, which Obama is expected to sign, will kill the pilot program — and a key U.S. treaty obligation.

The legislation is bad for San Antonio and South Texas, which would benefit greatly from the warehousing and distribution associated with enhanced cross-border trade. It is bad for American businesses and consumers, who wait longer and pay more for the transportation of goods that must be inefficiently off-loaded and reloaded at the border.

Perhaps most important at a time of economic uncertainty, it is dangerous for the United States and its trading partners. If the world’s economic leader is seen as retreating from free trade, it could set off a disastrous round of protectionist measures precisely when a boost in international trade is desperately needed.

The right thing for the United States to do is to live up to its commitments. Short of that, a legitimate procedure exists to change those commitments. Congressional leaders and President Obama should follow it.