U.S., MEXICO SIGN CROSS-BORDER TRUCKING AGREEMENT
U.S., Mexico Sign Cross-Border Trucking Agreement
Pact Aimed at Ending NAFTA Dispute; OOIDA ‘Fuming’
The United States and Mexico Wednesday signed a cross-border trucking agreement under which the U.S. will open its roads to Mexican trucks, while Mexico will suspend about $2 billion in tariffs on U.S. goods.
Under the agreement, signed by U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk and his Mexican counterpart in Mexico City, Mexico will suspend 50% of its tariffs within ten days, according to a statement by the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Mexico will suspend the remainder of the tariffs within five days of the first Mexican trucking company receiving its U.S. operating authority, the statement said. The two countries said they would issue their first trucking permits in August.
Mexico had set retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods for not allowing its trucks access to U.S. roadways, after the Obama administration suspended a previous pilot program shortly after President Obama took office in early 2009.
Under the Bush administration, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration had run a pilot cross-border trucking program under provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement. The new agreement would end trucking-related NAFTA disputes between the two countries.
Mexican tariffs currently range from 5% to 25% on certain U.S. agricultural and industrial products.
Currently, most Mexico-domiciled motor carriers are allowed to operate only within the border commercial zones of about 25 to 50 miles into the United States, according to the official 79-page agreement.
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