After 17 years of acrimonious debate, a commercial truck from Mexico crossed deep into the United States on Friday as agreed in the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement, a pact the eliminated fees and other barriers to trade among Canada, Mexico and the United States. The Mexican truck joins Canadian trucks, which have had no limits imposed on where they can go.
Under NAFTA, Mexican trucks were to have unrestricted access to U.S. roads and highways by 2000. Labor organizations opposed the idea, fearing the loss of U.S. jobs to Mexican drivers. The public debate, however, centered around the safety of the Mexican trucks. The Transportes Olympic Freightliner that crossed Friday passed safety tests imposed by the U.S. Department of Transportation and was outfitted with an onboard recorder. The driver also had to prove good knowledge of English and U.S. rules of the road. Other Mexican companies also have applied to the U.S. government for permission to haul freight into the United States.
The Mexican truck crossing marks a milestone in an agreement that creates the world’s largest economic trading bloc in terms of GDP. The pact allows Canada, Mexico and the United States to compete in the global economy.
As the truck rolled across the World Trade Bridge, the Mexican government canceled the remaining retalitory tariffs imposed on 99 U.S. products in 2009. The tariffs, affecting $2 billion in trade, were imposed when the Obama administration suddenly shut down a two-year-old pilot trucking program designed to allow the transport of goods across the U.S.-Mexico border as agreed under NAFTA.