EL PASO, Texas, Sept. 7 As soon as schedules are worked out, U.S. highways are expected to be opened to Mexican trucks for the first time, a report said.
The last unresolved major promise of the 1993 North American Free Trade Agreement, the U.S. Transportation Department said it had given a green light to a Monterey, Mexico, carrier, Transportes Olympic of Nuevo Leon, to be the first Mexican company certified to operate trucks in the United States beyond a 25-mile border zone to which Mexican trucks have been confined since 1982, the Houston Chronicle said Friday.
At the same time, an El Paso, Texas, carrier, Stagecoach Cartage and Distribution, received permission from the Mexican government to operate south of the border.
The approval was handed down Thursday despite bitter opposition from public safety advocates, union leaders and House Democrats.
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administrator John Hill insisted the cross-border trucking program meets all public safety requirements and exposes the Mexican carriers to greater inspection and scrutiny than U.S. trucks.
Anticipating the start date, the Teamsters organized protests Thursday at border crossings in Laredo and San Diego. Dozens of truckers waved signs reading "NAFTA Kills" and denounced the trucking program as unsafe to motorists and U.S. workers.
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration spokeswoman Melissa DeLaney said the Mexican trucks and drivers in line for permits have been examined by U.S. inspectors and will have to renew their permits every 90 days.
Copyright 2007 by UPI
