| | |  Business News | May 2009 
US Eyes Mexico Truck Deal in June
 Angela Greiling Keane - Bloomberg
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| | U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood | |
The United States may reopen its roads to Mexican trucks as early as June, as tariffs levied in response to the U.S. Congress' decision to bar the vehicles put a "huge" burden on U.S. producers, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said.
U.S. lawmakers, hearing from constituents upset about the tariffs, may switch their votes on the program, LaHood said Thursday in an interview in Washington.
Mexico's retaliation has had "an enormous impact," LaHood said. "It is really putting a huge economic stress on the producers."
Mexico applied $2.4 billion in tariffs in March on at least 90 U.S. products in retaliation for the U.S. suspension of rules that let some Mexican trucks operate beyond a zone along the countries' border.
U.S. senators including John McCain, an Arizona Republican, and Mel Martinez, a Florida Republican, have said the United States should bring back the program, citing the economic needs of U.S. consumers and exporters.
NAFTA requires trucks from the United States, Mexico and Canada to be allowed access to each others' roads. LaHood has said he wants to revive the program that lets Mexican trucks deliver goods across the border to resolve the dispute.
He met in March with Sen. Byron Dorgan, a North Dakota Democrat, who worked successfully to cut off funding for the program because of what he said was a failure to meet U.S. safety standards.
LaHood, whose agency's Mexican trucking program is at the White House for review, said Thursday he will bring it to the U.S. Congress after lawmakers return from next week's recess.
"I think you're going to have members of Congress voting for this that voted against this before the tariffs," he said. "I hope we can do it in June. We might as well strike while the iron is hot."
The decision on whether to reopen the border as a limited pilot program or do so as a wider effort hasn't been made yet, said LaHood, who said he'd prefer it be a permanent program. |
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