Nafta Anniversary Sparks Appeal

American Trucking Associations commemorated the third anniversary of the suspension of a key North American Free Trade Agreement trucking provision by urging President Clinton to completely open four southwestern states to Mexican trucks.

The Clinton administration unilaterally postponed the first step toward international trucking between the U.S. and Mexico. On the day the border was to open — Dec. 18, 1995 — then-Secretary of Transportation Federico Pena shocked trucking in both countries with the announcement that, despite Nafta, Mexican carriers would not be allowed beyond established commercial zones until safety concerns were addressed. Mexico quickly retaliated with a denial of authority to U.S. carriers.

Three years later, the moratorium remains in effect.

In a letter to President Clinton this Dec. 18, ATA President Walter B. McCormick Jr. said the indefinite delay “has meant that trucking companies continue to operate in an inefficient transportation system, even as we face increasing levels of trade flows.”

The first of three steps leading to eventual continentwide rights would have allowed U.S. and Mexican trucking companies to carry international traffic to any point in the border states of the other country. Direct crossborder service is seen as one way to bypass bottlenecks that come with handing off cargo to another carrier with appropriate national authority.

“Implementing Nafta’s trucking provisions gives us the opportunity to reduce congestion and delays at ports of entry along our border with Mexico,” Mr. McCormick wrote. “Nafta’s trucking provisions would have fixed this situation.”

A Department of Transportation spokesman could not say last week when the border would be opened.

“The United States first raised concerns about the safety of Mexican carriers in December of 1995 and has been working on an ongoing basis to resolve them since then,” the spokesman said. “The U.S. and Mexico are working on a plan to implement the crossborder provisions of Nafta in the near future.”

For the full story, see the Dec. 28 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.

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