NAFTA and the American Trucking Companies The North American Free Trade Agreement is a trade agreement signed in November 1993 between the United States, Canada, and Mexico (NAFTA pp). NAFTA promoters, which include many of the world's largest corporations, promised it would create hundreds of thousands of new high-wage U.S. jobs, raise living standards, improve environmental conditions and transform Mexico into a booming new market for U.S. exports (North pp). Opponents of NAFTA believing that calling it a trade agreement is misleading and that it is actually an investment agreement with core provisions that grant foreign investors a remarkable set of new rights and privileges that promote relocation abroad of factories and jobs and the privatization and deregulation of essential services, such as water, energy and health care (North pp). One of the major contentions of NAFTA has been the effect on the trucking industry.

Under the North American Free Trade Agreement, foreign trucks were allowed full access to American highways as of January 1. 2000, however, since the beginning of NAFTA, American truckers have fought to keep Canadian and Mexican off U.S. highways (Rather Pp). Texas State Trooper Scott Avant, who inspects Mexican trucks at the border checkpoint in Laredo, Texas, reported in 1999 that he routinely sees bad brakes, worn tires, and unlicensed drivers, "I would say that three out of six trucks that I would check would be placed out of service" (Rather Pp).

Keith Lovetro, vice president of San Jose-based Viking Freight, supports NAFTA but does have concerns regarding the

Says Lovetro, "We go to great lengths to ensure that we drive safely, because we want the public to feel safe when they're driving next to a truck on the highway. Those same concerns need to be displayed with Mexican truckers" (Zion Pp).
In June 2004, the United States Supreme Court struck down a lower court decision barring Mexican truckers from crossing into the United States until scientists could study the environmental impact of emissions from their trucks idling at the border, saying that truck access is a trade policy matter that should be decided by the president (Borden Pp). Cross-border access theoretically lowers costs and opens markets, however, legal fights and lobbying have caused delays for some eight years now (Borden Pp). Yet now, neither side are certain that they want the open border. Mexican truckers fear larger, faster, and more efficient American companies will steal their customers, while American truckers fear that lower-paid Mexican drivers might erode what they can charge for their services (Borden Pp).

Mexican politicians and industry leaders complain about U.S. Department of Transportation rules that single out Mexican truckers, and until they go away, Mexican truckers will not cross, say officials (Borden Pp). Pedro Cerisola, Mexican Secretary of Communications and Transport, said, "Mexico's government supports all efforts for an equitable border opening...It cannot back an opening that could go against the principles of NAFTA and could put Mexican truckers at a disadvantage vis-a-vis their U.S. counterparts" (Borden Pp).

American opponents, including Joan Claybrook of Public Citizen, express concern regarding pollution, saying, "This ruling gives a green light to allow trucks to cross the border with no regard for their effect on the environment" (Borden Pp). The Teamsters and the Owner-Operator…