Mexican trucks won't enter U.S. until U.S. trucks enter Mexico
Latest delay in ongoing trucking border battle
By Dave Hannon -- Purchasing, 5/2/2007 10:15:00 AM
In a new twist, U.S. officials have decided to delay giving Mexican trucks free access across the U.S. border until U.S. trucks are granted the same access in Mexico. And no one is sure when that will be.
In a statement issued this week, U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary E. Peters said U.S. trucks will begin operating in Mexico for the first time ever starting at the same time Mexican trucks begin free travel in the U.S.
"This announcement puts the program on track to lower costs for U.S. consumers, make our economy more competitive and give U.S. truckers new business opportunities," Peters said.
The previous proposal between U.S. and Mexican officials said Mexican trucks would be given access as early as this month, and U.S. trucks would be given access to Mexican highways sometime in the next six months.
According to an announcement in the Federal Register, the demonstration program announced in February will allow up to 100 U.S.-domiciled motor carriers “to operate in Mexico on terms similar to those applicable to Mexico-domiciled carriers operating in this country. The Mexican government is finalizing an application form and procedures for use by interested U.S. motor carriers.”
While hundreds of Mexican carriers had applied to participate in the experiment, far fewer U.S. companies expressed interest in operating in Mexico, officials said.
Currently, Mexican trucks are allowed to enter a restricted zone across the U.S. border, where they have to unload their cargo to U.S. trucks, a process that Peters has said "is a waste of time, energy and money."
The latest decision means yet another delay to a program that has been mired in political quagmires for years. Peters said the plan was modified “based on” recent conversations with congressional critics and the Mexican government. Members of congress began pressuring Transportation Department officials to change the plan. In a statement released following the decision, Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, who sponsored legislation to delay the program, called the announcement “good news.”
“I was disturbed to learn earlier this year that Mexican truckers would have started the program a full six months before American truckers would have gained access to Mexico,” she said. “This would have simply been unfair.”
Last week a group including Public Citizen, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration seeking an injunction requiring the DOT and FMCSA either to comply with the law by providing public notice of the pilot program and an opportunity for the public to comment on the program – or to set aside the pilot project as unlawful.
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