Mexico truck agreement may be signed this month, Mexican official says

A signed agreement would end the ban on Mexican trucks traveling into the U.S. beyond the current commercial trade zone. (Associated Press)

The Trucker News Services

6/14/2011

An international news service is reporting that a Mexico government official believes the cross border trucking agreement between his country and the U.S. could be signed by the end of the month.

Bloomberg News reported that Mexican Economy Minister Bruno Ferrari said his country will sign a formal agreement to end a trucking dispute with the U.S. as early as this month, setting the stage for the country to remove punitive tariffs.

The agreement ends a ban on Mexican trucks crossing the border, a move Mexico's government has said will trigger the removal of some tariffs on $2.4 billion worth of U.S. products.

"We're as close as you can be," Ferrari was reported as saying.

The public comment period for the proposal ended just one month ago.

According to the federal website www.regulations.gov, there were over 2,100 comments submitted.

The proposal opposed by several groups, among them the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association and the Teamsters.

The American Trucking Associations supported the proposal, but expressed concerns about some of the plan.

One of those concerns surrounded the announcement by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration that the U.S. government would purchase electronic onboard recorders for all Mexican trucks participating in the initial stages of the project.

Several members of Congress, including Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., were not enamored about the proposal, citing the purchase of the EOBRs as a major issue.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon and U.S. President Barack Obama announced an end to the truck ban was near after a meeting in March.

Mexico will remove 50 percent of the tariffs once the agreement is signed, and remove the remaining amount once the U.S. grants authorization for Mexican trucks to operate across the border, Ferrari told Bloomberg News.

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