Reopening the Border
This Editorial appears in the April 6 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today.
We’re pleased to see that President Obama’s administration is at work crafting a plan to reopen the United States to trucks from Mexico, as agreed to years ago when the North American Free Trade Agreement was ratified.
The misguided move by Congress to shut down the successful pilot project that had been under way between the two nations led the Mexican government a few weeks ago to impose $2.4 billion worth of tariffs on U.S. products going there. These tariffs have effectively made U.S. exports uncompetitive, and led to a drop in business for American producers and the U.S. carriers that move the products between the two countries.
The pilot was shut down at Congress’ insistence, after the Teamsters union and some interest groups maintained that Mexican fleets aren’t as safe as U.S. carriers. Much of the opposition, however, really seems to center on concerns that Mexican carriers will undercut domestic fleets because of their lower wage scales.
The border opening was included in NAFTA to facilitate the movement of goods between the two nations, and not to open each nation to cabotage by fleets from the other country.
Although the Obama administration complied with Congress’ demands, it is now apparent that the new president intends to find a way to live up to the treaty and reopen the border.
Last week, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood hosted a meeting of interested parties in Washington, including American Trucking Associations President Bill Graves.
LaHood told the group that the administration intends to have a workable solution outlined for President Obama to take with him when he visits President Calderon of Mexico later this month.
The administration “is clearly reaching out to stakeholders and members of Congress in hopes of getting the program developed and sold and under way,” Graves said after the meeting.
Several suggestions were floated during the meeting, and we’re looking forward to the details of the administration’s new proposal.
Clearly, we need to live up to our trade agreements. ATA has supported the opening of the border for many years, with the understanding that Mexican carriers should be held to the same standards as their U.S. counterparts when they operate in this nation.
The new administration’s quick action in reopening the border is a very good sign and, we believe, could and should lead to the revocation of the tariffs that were imposed on U.S. goods.
