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by Several U.S./Mexico border crossings in Texas and California recently saw American truckers protesting a pilot program to allow up to 100 Mexican trucking companies to haul their cargo anywhere in the United States, a move also opposed by the Teamsters Union and the Sierra Club. The program is designed to test whether Mexican trucks would be able to operate on U.S. highways safely. Attorneys sued the Federal government on behalf of the Teamsters, Sierra Club, and the Ralph Nader founded watch-dog group Public Citizen to stop the program. Government lawyers argued the program is a necessary part of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the trucks would meet U.S. regulations. A federal appeals court ruled the Bush administration could move ahead with the pilot program.
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NAFTA by PowerPointSamurai :: NR7 :: on 09 September 2007
Obviously there were aspects of NAFTA I missed. I assumed that the NAFTA agreement allowed free trade in North America, including this type of thing. I could see restricting Mexican trucks from operating point-to-point in the US, but they certainly should be allowed to haul to/from Mexico to anywhere in NA in the spirit of the agreement. That said, they would be held to the same highway safety standards and emissions requirements of the states they haul through. I know some people in the transportation industry. If you haul through 3 arbitrary states, you have to meet their axle weight requirements and highway regulations--including emissions. So on that ground, the Sierra Club and the safety concerns should be moot.
As for the Teamsters Union, sounds like another World is Flat example to me, and they need to figure out how they will compete rather than waste energy obfuscating and making excuses. Again, however, the Mexican trucks generally shouldn't be competition for them hauling back and forth within the US, because otherwise they'd have to have a base of operations in the US to remain profitable, implying visas, green cards, etc.
I see Canadian trucks on the road all the time. Why would they raise this as an issue, but not the Canadians? The easy answer is racism, which is not what I'm implying, but what...lower standards, cheaper wages?
If it's lower standards, State Troopers LOVE writing lucrative tickets for bad brakes, over weight limits, speeding, etc. I can't see why a Mexican truck would be exempt from say, Texas highway standards, whereas an Arizona one would not.
RE: NAFTA by NastyPrincess :: NR5 :: on 11 September 2007
"I see Canadian trucks on the road all the time. Why would they raise this as an issue, but not the Canadians? The easy answer is racism, which is not what I'm implying, but what...lower standards, cheaper wages?"
Everyone loves the Canadians, yay though they may very well have the worst national anthem ever (jury's still out). When we travel, we tell folks we're Canadian a lot due to the fact that Canadian politics just isn't a really hot dinner topic and no one throws the "conflict" in Iraq or the Clinton vs G.W. Bush cards on the table. Tell people you're an American and you're flipping a coin on receiving a positive or negative reaction. Sad, but true. No one has a bone to pick with the Canadians except the lumber industry and South Park-ites.
Mexico however, is another story. They have out of control drug cartels that are smart enough to wage wars with each other on the internet, the US is building a wall and forming militias to curb the number of illegals coming across the border, their human trafficking record is atrocious and now Mexico wants to add tractor trailer trucks to the mix, to make all of these things easier? The Mexican trucking industry probably has pure intensions of free trade and a more open door policy, but the truck drivers themselves are human and there is a lot of money to be made in contraband, human or otherwise. Money talks all over the world and not always in justice's moral favor.
RE: NAFTA by PowerPointSamurai :: NR7 :: on 13 September 2007
All I can say is that's what the border checkpoints are for, and within the country, the State Patrols to enforce traffic regulations/safety.
I couldn't agree more that Mexico has some major, major problems, but maybe a little opportunity at legitimate business could help. Mexico is already one of our largest trading partners, so obviously copious amounts of stuff crosses the border already...is it more or less controlled than this would entail? Big, bulky tractor-trailers are more manageable than thousands of miles of sprawling, empty border as far as human trafficking.
As far as claiming to be Canadian, there was a really good one liner from a comedian on MTV a long time ago. The most important phrase in a foreign language to learn if you travel to another foreign country is "Don't shoot! I'm Canadian!". That doesn't work out really well if you are in Afghanistan though.
RE: NAFTA by VnutZ :: NR8 :: on 13 September 2007
When we traveled through India, we maintained a guise of being foreign english teachers from Canada. Everything was fine until one of our traveling companions finally decided, "he couldn't keep lying" and told our guide we were military officers from America. While the general rapport remained positive, the conversations and discussions took an unfortunate turn towards American politics ... as if we had intimate knowledge of how our government leaders came to their conclusions.
RE: NAFTA by NastyPrincess :: NR5 :: on 14 September 2007
"Mexico has some major, major problems, but maybe a little opportunity at legitimate business could help."
Very true! Maybe adding legitimacy to their efforts will help their more honest and hard working citizens and businesses become catalysts for change. The benefit of the doubt is always the best place to start in any situation....and maybe we could then begin sending more major outsourcing projects to a place that's a little closer to home, instead of to China since trucking things over the border would be so much cheaper than floating them across the Pacific.
I know we outsource to Mexico quite a bit already, but by moving more of industry to just south of the border, maybe we could keep better tabs on the processes and not have to worry about China having a political fit one day, closing up its doors and causing a full economic collapse over here.