The Politico
By: Erika Lovley
Originally Published: September 23, 2008
The House has made it veto-proof clear: The controversial pilot program allowing big Mexican trucks to cross the U.S. border and travel into the country must end.
The Senate has yet to act, though. And Mexico and its U.S. big-business allies are ramping up their efforts to block the repeal, including a renewed warning by Mexican officials to retaliate against U.S. exports if the program is abolished.
Mexican Embassy officials say the year-old pilot program has been a positive development for both countries, allowing Mexican and American drivers to deliver goods across the border. Before, Mexican truckers were allowed to transfer goods only within a 20-mile commercial zone along the border.
Just back from its long summer recess, on Sept. 9, the House overwhelmingly voted, 395-18, to scuttle the program only a few weeks after U.S. transportation officials announced it would be extended for another two years. Lobbyists supporting the program say they are already having an increasingly tough time getting the attention of the Senate.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is bolstering Mexico’s efforts to save the program, arguing that the Mexican trucks are tightly regulated and offer unique business opportunities to the U.S. economy. And to highlight the issue, Chamber President Thomas Donohue recently traveled to Mexico to confer about the program with key officials.
“This whole issue is much more wrapped up in immigration and anti-Mexican sentiment that you see across the board,” said Chamber lobbyist Janet Kavinoky, who leads the Americans for Transportation Mobility. “This is not really a foreign truck issue. We’ve had cross-border programs under NAFTA with Canadian trucks for years.”
The threat of a retaliatory boycott from Mexico, reiterated after the House vote, has particularly concerned U.S. pork producers, who sell a lot of product in Mexico, and some produce farmers who also export across the border.
“Many export sectors, both in agriculture as well as other sectors of the economy, remain concerned about the possibility of retaliation by Mexico should the United States fail to implement its legal obligations,” said Nick Giordano, international trade counsel for the National Pork Producers Council.
Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), who has helped lead the fight to kill the Mexican truck program, has inserted a provision canceling it into the transportation appropriations bill. But an aide said it’s unclear when that bill will be considered, if at all, as the legislative session winds down, since a general continuing resolution to fund the government is the most likely course ahead.
And, should the ban reach President Bush’s desk, the White House has vowed to veto it.
In a strong statement after the House vote, the Mexican Embassy noted that, so far, 10 U.S. companies with 55 trucks and 27 Mexican carriers with 108 trucks have participated in the pilot program, crossing the border more than 29,000 times “without a single incident.”
“Mexico has fulfilled its NAFTA obligations and expects the U.S. do the same,” the embassy said. “Should the bill be enacted into law, the Government of Mexico will consider taking all the appropriate actions, including remedies or countermeasures under the North American Free Trade Agreement.”
Some members of Congress moved to scuttle the program soon after it began, but it continued, raising the ire of Congress. And the fallout has put Transportation Secretary Mary Peters at the center of a lawsuit that is now in the U.S. Court of Appeals.
“This program creates a new method of entry for drug and human smugglers,” said Joe Kasper, a spokesman for Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), who voted to kill the program. “We need to protect our own security interests, worry more about ourselves and less about Mexico’s commercial interest here in the U.S.”
Other opponents of the program argue that safety should not be compromised for the sake of exports. Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, a national coalition, report that one of the truck companies originally participating in the program had hundreds of safety violations.
And still others say the program is handing American jobs to foreign workers.
“This is simply just another guest worker program,” said Todd Spencer, vice president of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, which represents independent truckers.
Defending the program, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administrator John Hill said it is necessary to comply with NAFTA, which promotes open trade among the United States, Mexico and Canada. And the administration reports that the pilot trucking program with Mexico has cut transportation costs and reduced truck emissions by eliminating short-haul trucks at the border.
“Ending this program sends a horrible message to our trade partners,” Hill said. “The real losers here are the American consumers, who will be paying more for products.”
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