Lynda

About a year ago on a couple of the lists I'm on, we talked about NAFTA and
the danger of allowing just any trucks on U.S. highways. Anyone who has
traveled extensively in Mexico and/or owns a trucking outfit knows that the
conditions of commericial vehicles are pathetic AND extremely dangerous with
the vast majority not having any insurance and a good percentage of the
drivers not being licensed.

Well, the roads are dangerous enough and now Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and
California in particular can look forward to even more problems on their
roads!

All the bright boys that thought up NAFTA ought to be shot!

Lynda
----- Original Message -----

> Bush to Open Country to Mexican Truckers
>
> February 7, 2001
>
> By STEVEN GREENHOUSE
>
> The Bush administration indicated yesterday that it would reverse a
> Clinton administration policy and begin allowing Mexican trucks to
> haul goods throughout the United States, notwithstanding concerns
> about the trucks' safety problems.
>
> Administration officials disclosed the plan on the same day that a
> dispute-resolution panel ruled that the United States was violating
> the North American Free Trade Agreement by not already allowing
> Mexican trucks to enter.
>
> "The president has said that Nafta trucking provisions should be
> implemented, and we intend to do that," said Clair Buchan, a White
> House spokeswoman.
>
> The proposed change, long sought by Mexico, comes just 10 days
> before Mr. Bush travels to Mexico.
>
> The president has not decided on the exact timing of the move,
> administration officials said, noting that it remained unclear
> whether he would agree to a limited opening of the border or a
> broad one.
>
> The plan is expected to generate protests. Union officials voice
> fears that Mexican truckers, who often earn one-fourth as much as
> unionized American truckers, will take American jobs. And consumer
> groups, noting that 41 percent of Mexican trucks failed American
> inspections at the border, argue that the trucks will endanger
> Americans.
>
> Bret Caldwell, a spokesman for the Teamsters union, said, "We will
> continue to fight the opening of the border until the Mexican
> government can guarantee their standards are higher and the U.S.
> can guarantee that we have the inspection facilities to keep unsafe
> trucks out."
>
> The administration's move surprised some union leaders, because
> Mr. Bush has courted the Teamsters more than any other union.
>
> Under Nafta, the United States was supposed to give broad access
> to Mexican trucks in 1995, but President Bill Clinton, under heavy
> pressure from his union allies, kept the provision from taking
> effect, saying Mexico had to do more to address safety problems
> first.
>
> That year, the Mexican government, invoking Nafta's provisions,
> asked that a five-member panel be set up to determine whether
> Washington was violating the accord.
>
> In its decision, the panel - two Americans, two Mexicans and a
> British chairman - unanimously ruled that the United States would
> be in violation if it did not begin considering applications from
> Mexican trucking companies. More than 160 applications are pending.
>
> "The decision says the Department of Transportation must consider
> applications on individual merit and may not refuse authority
> across the board to all Mexican companies," said an American trade
> official who had read the decision, which is to be released today.
>
> The official said the panel made clear that the United States was
> entitled under Nafta to set its own safety standards and to ensure
> that Mexican trucking companies meet them.
>
> "As we move forward, the United States will not compromise highway
> safety in any way," the official said.
>
> Currently, Mexican truckers can drive up to 25 miles north of the
> border. Then they normally transfer their loads to American trucks.
> Each year, about five million commercial trucks cross the border,
> hauling about three-fourths of the $250 billion in United
> States-Mexico trade.
>
> Mexican officials say opening the border will save American
> consumers millions of dollars by lowering transportation costs.
>
> "The cost has been lost business opportunities for Mexican
> trucking companies," said Luís de la Calle, under secretary in
> Mexico's Economy Ministry. "The system we have today is archaic. To
> change tractors at the border creates lines, which means more lost
> time and greater costs of doing business."
>
> A 1996 letter that Mr. Bush, then Texas' governor, signed with the
> governors of Arizona, California and New Mexico, said, "This
> transborder trucking delay robs the entire U.S.- Mexico border
> region of the full economic benefits that Nafta promises."
>
> Under Nafta rules, the United States could continue to keep the
> trucks out, but then it would have to compensate Mexico by, for
> example, agreeing to let it impose punitive tariffs on some
> American goods.
>
> Critics warned that opening the border could backfire politically
> for Mr. Bush if Mexican truckers caused accidents that killed
> Americans.
>
> "It is imperative that we continue to limit access for these
> dangerous trucks even if it means paying trade sanctions," said
> Joan Claybrook, president of Public Citizen, a consumer safety
> group. "It is impossible to inspect every truck, and we cannot
> knowingly put drivers at risk by inviting dangerous rigs onto U.S.
> highways."

>
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/07/politics/07BORD.html?ex=982560571&ei=1&en=
5f882d4d9f97faa2