US Highways Officially Open To Mexico's Trucks
NAFTA, signed in 1994, had called for Mexican trucks to have unrestricted access to highways in border states by 1995 and full access to all U.S. highways by January 2000. Canadian trucks have no limits on where they can go.[/b] But until now, Mexican trucks have seldom been allowed farther than a buffer zone on the U.S. side of the border. In retaliation, Mexico had imposed higher tariffs on dozens of U.S. products.
The Mexican government has now agreed to suspend those tariffs as long as the agreement is in place.
The public debate surrounding the accord had mostly focused on the safety of Mexican trucks. But labor unions and other groups were strongly opposed to the agreement, which they say will cost Americans trucking and other jobs.
The U.S. Department of Transportation says the safety concerns have now been resolved. Electronic monitoring systems will track how many hours the trucks are in service. Drivers will also have to pass safety reviews, drug tests and assessments of their English-language and U.S. traffic sign-reading skills. Mexico has the authority to demand the same of U.S. truck drivers entering their territory.
But those won't do much to resolve the U.S. debate over the migration of jobs, which dates back to the NAFTA debates of the early 1990s. The question: Will a freer flow of cross-border cargo traffic boost business and allow owners to hire more workers, or will it ship U.S. jobs to Mexican drivers who work for lower pay?
Read more: http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2011/07/06/us-mexico-sign-cross-border-trucking-agreement-1625012270/#ixzz1RiFKNFCi
