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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | September 2007 
Mexican Trucks Ready to Roll
 Oscar Avila - Chicago Tribune
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Mexico City - As soon as next week, the Olympic Transports trucking company of northern Mexico will make its first deliveries to Chicago, a 1,500-mile journey that has taken 13 years to become a reality.
The U.S. government gave Mexican trucks the green light, starting Friday, to transport goods into America's heartland for the first time in a quarter century. So far, Olympic has the only permit, but dozens of other Mexican companies are likely to follow.
The pilot program to allow cross-border trucking is one of the last bits of unfinished business from the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement, which opened up markets for goods traveling among the U.S., Mexico and Canada.
A dispute over the trucking permits, however, has revived many of the hot-button arguments of the original NAFTA debate: sovereignty, security and threats to U.S. workers. Both Republicans and Democrats, including several presidential candidates, have taken aim at the measure in lawsuits, news conferences and protests.
The renewed debate reflects the mixed feelings on both sides of the border over free trade. Although surveys show general support, respondents in the U.S. and Mexico are skeptical that their own countries were the biggest winners from NAFTA.
"In every single nation, you have interest groups and you have to adjust to that," Manuel Rodriguez, Mexico's undersecretary of transportation and a key negotiator in the trucking issue, said in an interview Friday. "But NAFTA can still do many things for all of us. I still believe that the closer we can become, the more competitive we all can be."
Until the pilot program, trucks from the U.S. and Mexico have operated in each other's territory only within a zone extending about 25 miles from the border. Because of long waits at border checkpoints, Mexican companies often have found it tough to coordinate the transfer of their shipments to U.S. operators, officials said. That means Mexican trucks often have had to drop products at a distribution center for pickup, which slowed the process even more.
The U.S. Embassy in Mexico City said cross-border trucking could save $400 million a year in transport costs.
The pilot program will allow as many as 100 Mexican firms to operate in the U.S. for a year if they receive permits from the U.S. Department of Transportation. U.S. companies will have access to Mexico. U.S. and Canadian companies already have free access to each other's roads under NAFTA.
U.S. transportation officials say they will inspect every Mexican truck that participates in the program and conduct background checks on drivers. Drivers also will be tested randomly for drugs and alcohol.
Days away
In the program's first month, the U.S. will grant 17 Mexican firms permission to participate, according to the Department of Transportation. The first Mexican trucks could cross into the U.S. interior within days, officials said.
The Sierra Club, Teamsters and other plaintiffs tried to block the program in court last week, but a federal appeals court denied their request for an injunction.
Critics contend that Mexican drivers don't meet U.S. standards in training, licensing and work hours. They say Mexican drivers are overworked, drive outdated trucks and often don't know enough English to drive safely on U.S. roads.
To illustrate the point, U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) held a news conference in Washington, D.C., Thursday with a woman who lost three relatives in a California crash with a Mexican truck driver. Along the border, one protester held a sign reading "NAFTA kills."
But the U.S. said in court that, under the 25-mile rule, Mexican trucks already make 4.5 million annual trips into the U.S. with a safety record comparable to that of American operators.
The Teamsters have also said Mexican truck drivers will push down wages for U.S. truckers. The same labor unions fought the original NAFTA, saying cheap labor in Mexico threatened American jobs.
Teamsters spokeswoman Leslie Miller said Friday that the lawsuit is still pending and that the union would work with lawmakers to delay the pilot phase and a full-scale program. A House bill to deny funds for the project has passed 411-3.
Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), a presidential candidate known for his promotion of a border wall, said the trucking program would make the U.S. vulnerable. "If you're a drug dealer and you're moving a lot ... of narcotics through trucks into America, you have a seam in the operation," he told CNN.
Democratic contenders Barack Obama, John Edwards and Hillary Clinton, whose husband was president when NAFTA was approved, have also criticized the program.
There is opposition in Mexico as well. The head of the National Chamber of Cargo Transport, a Mexican industry group, said Thursday that onerous requirements give U.S. companies an unfair advantage.
Jon Huenemann, the assistant U.S. Trade Representative who helped implement NAFTA under President Bill Clinton, said he worries that resistance could embolden lawmakers in Mexico who want to delay the lifting next year of protections for Mexico's corn industry.
"As this process unfolds so slowly in the United States, it provides fuel for arguments by those in Mexico who say, 'If they want to reinterpret NAFTA for political reasons, maybe we should do the same.' That's dangerous business," he said.
Illinois impact
The trade office for the state of Illinois in Mexico City estimates that 90 percent of goods shipped between the state and Mexico travel by truck. That includes the pipes and other supplies that Olympic Transports sends to a Chicago manufacturer after transferring to American truckers in Laredo, Texas.
Fernando Paez, Olympic's general manager, said Friday that the client did not want to be identified because he feared protests. Paez said direct shipments to Chicago could start as soon as next week.
Speaking by phone from Olympic's headquarters in suburban Monterrey, Paez said his company will begin participating with just two trucks and two drivers. He wants to measure demand before submitting to the rigorous U.S. requirements.
Paez stressed his firm's low accident rate while operating in the Texas border region and noted that his two participating trucks were made in Oregon.
"I can tell you that we have a team as good as what they have in the United States," he said. "If they will open the door to us, I know there are opportunities."
oavila@tribune.com |
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