North American Free Trade Agreement overview

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 safety of Mexican trucks (Zion Pp). 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 Independent Drivers Association, which represents small and medium-size U.S. carrier, worry about safety and contend that Mexican trucks are older and less well-maintained (Borden Pp).

The Supreme Court's ruling will likely mean cheaper rates for hauling freight on the most competitive routes, thus lowering the cost of goods to U.S. consumers, however, it could also cost some American truckers their jobs as they struggle to compete with trucking firms that operate at roughly one third of the cost (Kasler Pp). Western region vice president of the Teamster union, Chuck Mack, said that the ruling is bad new for the approximately 90,000 union drivers in California (Kasler Pp). Armando Freire, owner of a 30-vehicle trucking firm in San Diego and treasurer of the California Trucking Association, said, "I will probably end up replacing a number of my U.S. drivers with Mexican operators" (Kasler Pp). "We can't compete with the cost of doing business, their labor costs against ours" declared Al Nunes, owner of a Manteca trucking firm and the trucking association's president (Kasler Pp).

Because Mexico's truck fleet includes a large percentage of vehicles built before strict air pollution standards were set in 1993, the Clinton administration would not allow Mexican trucks to go more than a few miles, usually twenty, past the U.S. border, then for their freight to move any further, they had to hand off the cargo to a U.S. carrier (Kasler Pp). Now the Bush administration said it would remove the barrier to entry, thereby giving Mexican trucks greater access to U.S. roads (Kasler Pp).