U.S. and Mexico Resolve Cross-Border Trucking Dispute Under NAFTA
The United States and Mexico have signed a memorandum of understanding
(MOU) that resolves a long-haul, cross-border trucking dispute involving
“retaliatory tariffs” on more than $2 billion in U.S. exports, including food and
agricultural products. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation
(DOT), the July 6, 2011, agreement will “lift tariffs and put safety first.”
Under the agreement, Mexico will immediately suspend half of the retaliatory
tariffs imposed in March 2009, with the remaining 50 percent to be removed
within five days of the first Mexican trucking company receiving U.S. operating
authority. In return, Mexican long-haul truck drivers will be allowed to
ship goods into the United States after complying with, among other things,
the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards and electronic vehicle monitoring
designed to track “hours-of-service compliance” to ensure that drivers make
cross-border shipments and not “domestic cargo between points within the
United States.”
According to U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, the agreement puts the
two countries on an “equal footing” under the North American Free Trade
Agreement (NAFTA). “For U.S. farmers and ranchers, the lifting of these tariffs
means jobs and fiscal relief—lifting constraints on American products,
removing barriers to trade with a key trading partner, and putting Americans
back to work at a time when U.S. agriculture is setting record export figures,”
Vilsack said. See U.S. Department of Agriculture, DOT Press Releases, July 6, 2011.
