U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary E. Peters on Wednesday, Oct. 17, joined with U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez and Mexican Transportation Secretary Luis Tellez in calling on Congress to reconsider its pending prohibition and let the cross-border trucking demonstration program between the two nations proceed.
“With the change of just a few words, Congress can show that we can trade with the world, keep our highways safe, and our companies competitive at the same time,” Peters said.
In September, the Department of Transportation began a cross-border trucking demonstration project that will allow up to 100 U.S. trucking companies to operate in Mexico and up to 100 Mexican trucking companies to operate beyond commercial zones in the United States. The future of the program is in jeopardy due to pending legislation that would cut off federal funds for the demonstration.
“We want to demonstrate to Congress that tough safety standards and rigorous inspections work, and that trucks participating in this program will have the same features, the same upkeep and the same commitment to safety that any U.S. truck has,” Peters said.
To support her argument, Peters invited a Maryland state trooper to conduct a safety inspection of two trucks participating in the cross-border trucking demonstration — one a U.S. truck, and the other the first Mexican truck to make a U.S. delivery as part of the demonstration. The trucks are virtually identical, Peters said, because both trucks must meet the same strict U.S. safety standards.
Peters said Congress has spent $500 million since 1994 to prepare for the start of cross-border trucking, funding hundreds of highly-trained inspectors, dozens of state-of-the art facilities and rigorous new requirements to ensure every truck, every company and every driver from Mexico that participates in the program meets every U.S. safety standard without exceptions.
While critics of the program — including the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, the Teamsters union and a number of members of Congress — have raised safety concerns about Mexican trucks, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration argues that thousands of Mexican trucks already operate every day in U.S. cities such as San Diego and El Paso, Texas. In 2006 alone, Mexican trucks crossed into the United States 4 million times, while no U.S. trucks were allowed to enter Mexico. For years, however, those Mexican trucks have been limited to the 25-mile border commercial zone within the United States.
