MEXICO RETALIATION: NAFTA TRUCKING DISPUTE
On Monday, March 16, Mexico announced it would retaliate against the United States for the cancellation of the Cross-Border Trucking Demonstration Program. The list of 89 products was published on Wednesday, March 18, 2009 and effective the next day.
Background: Under the NAFTA, the United States and Mexico agreed to phase-out restrictions on cross-border passenger and cargo services. In 1995, however, the United States announced it would not lift restrictions on Mexican trucks. In 2001, a NAFTA dispute settlement panel found the U.S. restrictions to be in breach of its NAFTA obligations.
In 2007 Mexico agreed to cooperate in a joint demonstration program as a step towards full NAFTA implementation. It allowed up to 100 trucking firms from Mexico to transport international cargo beyond the commercial zones along the U.S.-Mexico border and up to 100 U.S. trucking firms to transport international cargo into Mexico. Bus companies and hazardous material carriers were excluded. The Trucking Pilot Program began on September 6, 2007, and was originally designed to run for one year. By an exchange of letters between the U.S. and Mexican Transportation Secretaries on August 4, 2008, the Trucking Pilot Program was extended up to an additional two years to ensure that it could produce sufficient data to evaluate its safety impact. However, the recently passed omnibus spending bill ended funding for the program. President Obama signed the bill into law on March 11.