Trucks slowly trickling in

The entry of Mexican trucks into the United States is an important part of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that is still unfulfilled. It is unacceptable that 17 years after the trade deal was signed, only one Mexican company is authorized to go beyond a 40-kilometer zone inside U.S. territory to carry goods from Mexico.

The fulfillment of this provision has faced numerous hurdles, especially from the truckers union, which would be directly impacted by having Mexican truck drivers entering the U.S. and traveling along its roads. For years, they successfully made the most of existing prejudices against Mexico to issue groundless warnings about Mexican vehicles and drivers.

After years of moving forward and backward, last year the Obama administration revived a program to allow the entry of Mexican trucks. In 2009, the White House cancelled a similar initiative from the Bush administration, prompting Mexico to impose $2 billion worth of tariffs on U.S. agricultural products.

The enthusiasm of the Democratic government to allow Mexican trucks to enter is minimal because of union pressure, but the slowness of the process implemented last October is absurd. Only one transportation company has been approved, and 20 more are waiting their turn.

This is a very low number given the original expectation that this would become another route for increased economic integration in the region. Instead of uniting them, the dispute over trucks has distanced the two nations for several years.

The process is moving forward at such a slow pace that it doesn’t seem like Washington is very interested, and we can’t be very optimistic about the progress of this program allowing Mexican trucks to enter.