The Growing Mexican Morass

This Editorial appears in the April 13 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today.

The fiasco over the Mexican border situation just keeps growing, as interested parties turn to their lawyers for relief and others try to turn up the political heat to get things moving.

It’s time to stop the madness and open the southern border in a way that both lives up to our obligations under the North American Free Trade Agreement and ensures that Mexican trucks that travel here meet safety standards and are operated according to U.S. laws and regulations.

Last week, the Mexican equivalent of American Trucking Associations, Canacar, filed a formal claim for restitution for what it says is the enormous amount of money its fleet members have lost because of the failure of the United States to open its southern border to international freight transport by Mexicans.

The claim is in addition to the $2.4 billion in tariffs that the Mexican government slapped on 90 U.S. products in retaliation for the cancellation of the pilot program that had been under way to test the potential full opening of the common border.

More than 140 industry groups and companies last week asked the Obama administration to find a solution to the impasse so that the Mexicans will suspend the tariffs. The tariffs are on a wide range of goods and have led to a drop in U.S. exports to Mexico.

The border was closed again earlier this year by the White House at Congress’ insistence and in response to interest groups, led by the Teamsters, that say they are concerned about the safety standards of Mexican drivers and vehicles.

Canacar acted under provisions of Nafta that allow disputes to be settled by each side picking a negotiator and agreeing on a third. The three arbitrators are then charged with resolving the complaints.

To give some idea of what Canacar is thinking, the group’s lawyer told our reporter that it is seeking “billions of dollars” in alleged damages.

Also last week, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association moved to keep its lawsuit against the pilot program alive, apparently in preparation for future developments. The Obama administration is reportedly working on a new pilot, designed to appease both sides in the dispute.

We continue to urge the White House to move ahead, to create a reasonable way to open the border without compromising safety. And we urge the president to move quickly, before the issue gets even more tangled.