U.S._Mexico_and_Truck_Deal

US and Mexico cross-border trucking After a 17-year dispute, U.S. and Mexico have signed a deal to allow their trucks to use each other's roads. A pilot program to allow Mexican trucks to circulate will now resume. This deal is viewed by most as something that would address safety concerns over Mexican vehicles, among other issues. While some Business groups have welcomed this agreement, the US trucking unions have condemned it. The 1994, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), requested that Mexican trucks have full access to US highways, but they were kept to a border buffer zone. With this, these Mexican vehicles were generally allowed no further that 40km (25 miles) into the US. Due to a cut in funding for a pilot program to allow long-haul Mexican trucks to circulate in the US in 2009, this prompted Mexico to slap tariffs on a range of US agriculture and industrial products. Some saw this “pilot program” as lowering wages and robbing jobs from hard-working American truck drivers and warehouse workers. Upon announcing the deal in Mexico City, US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood stated that it would “create jobs and opportunity for our people and support economic development in both nations.” US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack’s input was that ending the dispute which had cost the US businesses more than $2 billion is a “major win for US agriculture, American jobs and our nation’s economic prosperity.” Although the NAFTA agreement stipulates that the US and Mexican carriers were authorized to cross the border, the US refused to allow Mexican trucks full access, citing concerns of their ability to meet US safety and environmental standards. Under this deal: • The pilot program will be reinstated with Mexican lorry drivers getting a provisional 18-month license that may lead to permanent approval. • Electronic monitoring systems will be mandatory for record keeping of how long the vehicles are in service. • Mexican lorry drivers will only be allowed to do cross-border runs, not deliver between US destinations. • Other requirements will include safety reviews, drug tests, and drivers will be assessed on their English-language proficiency. • Mexico is to lift half of the tariffs it imposed immediately, with the rest suspended when the first Mexican lorry driver is authorized to travel into the US. Opponents to this are undoubtedly quite infuriated at this agreement, just as they were in 2007 when the Bush Administration had created a program to allow 100 Mexican trucking companies to haul freight into the United States. According to union leader Jim Hoffa "Opening the border to dangerous trucks at a time of high unemployment and rampant drug violence is a shameful abandonment of the DOT's (US Department of Transportation) duty to protect American citizens from harm and to spend American tax dollars responsibly." He deliberated that the pilot program is concession to multinational corporations that send jobs to Mexico. He also stated that, “It endangers motorists. It ignores the rampant corruption among Mexican law enforcement. It lowers wages and robs jobs from hard-working American truck drivers and warehouse workers.” And if this wasn’t enough, Congressman Peter DeFazio has tabled a bill to block the Obama administration from implementing the program, citing that concerns over safety, security and loss of jobs had not been met. My opinion(s) on these Issues The policy of allowing Mexican trucks to operate in the US will impact job opportunities for US truckers, as American companies may decide to hire Mexican drivers and pay at a lower scale. There is also the question for language and literacy, which will undoubtedly create communication barrier and will lead to angry and frustration on many levels. This might trigger the need for translators and while this might create jobs, it may also be seen as additional expenditure on our part. There are the issues of whether these vehicles are kept in good and safe working order: are they properly maintained and inspected, and do they have the required insurance and permits for trucks operated in the US. Of course when one thinks of trading with Mexico and especially allowing goods to come across the border, the immediate assumption is that there is the potential for drug and immigrant trafficking. The conclusion is also reached that there will be an influx of men, women and children being smuggled to the U.S. for the purposes of sexual and labor exploitation. Whether its guns, drugs, illegal aliens, smuggling it a serious problem as it now stands, and opening up our border has the potential to make it far worse. In this area, the main concern will be the increase in the volume of freight moving across the border and our inspection capability. The “New technology, like the Pulsed Fast Neutron Analysis (PFNA) device accurately and quickly detect the presence of hazardous substances, explosives, drugs, chemicals, and the like in sealed containers and vehicles,” will have to be utilized. It is agreed that the tariffs are hurting the Mexican people, along with a great many US exporters. So, on this issue, both parties have to exercise trust. On the trucking side, it is well known that Mexican truckers don’t necessarily trust US truckers and vice-versa. But it would appear that in some areas some US trucks are in the same category as those of the Mexican. If we are able to put some of the scary issues aside, we might be able to curtail delays at the border which results in higher costs, less freight efficiency, a less safe / secure supply-chain, fresher perishables’ products, traceability issues, more chances for logistics problems, more greenhouse gases and many other issues. What is clearly seen is that the private sector and compliance people on both sides of the border want to make it better for their respective countries. Obama is trying to help the U.S. economy by lifting the ban, in return the Mexican president, Felipe Calderon, has agreed to lift a majority of the tariffs which are currently hurting the U.S. businesses. The Mexican government is trying to help grow the agricultural sector to offer jobs, feed their own people and export a safe product to the world. Finally, there will always be issues which people use as trade barriers --safety, pollution or smuggling, to mask the underlying fear of losing one's job to someone on "the other side of the fence." While those issues do often have great merit in and of themselves, it is critical to address the fundamental issues of nations' domestic economies and how they, in turn, affect the international economic order. Referenced: Mexico Cross-Border Trucking – A Mexican Border Prespective http://mexicotrucker.com/mexico-cross-border-trucking-a-mexican-border-perspective National Security Concerns Among Roadblocks Facing Mexican Trucker Deal http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/07/07/national-security-concerns-among-roadblocks-facing-mexican-trucker-deal/#ixzz1S0CQ313g U.S., Mexico in Truck Deal http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303365804576429911864563624.html U.S. and Mexico Sign Trucking Deal http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/07/business/us-and-mexico-sign-trucking-agreement.html