Editorial: Nafta and Hardball

If there were any doubt of the political significance attached to the proposition that Mexican trucking companies ought to be permitted to do business in the United States, hours of intense — and sometimes accusatory — debate on the floor of the Senate last week sharply illuminated how deeply felt are the divisions of opinion.

As Transport Topics went to press, the Senate had just closed debate, in effect blocking any more attempts by the Bush administration’s supporters to get the international trucking provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement launched against a tide that won’t seem to abate. At the core of the argument are the twin issues of equality of treatment and domestic safety, tied to one another by Nafta.

In a nutshell, Sen. Patty Murray, a Democrat from Washington state, proposes to place specific requirements on Mexican trucking operations that want to carry international cargo into this country. Nafta supporters say some of the requirements, including full-blown safety audits before starting operations, are more rigorous than what a new U.S. trucking company would have to meet. That is prohibited by the “equal treatment” clause of Nafta, Sen. Phil Gramm, a Texas Republican, argued.

Murray’s position is that Nafta cannot force the United States to put the quality of its highway safety at risk, itself a sound position. Sadly, though, that argument was tainted long ago by Nafta’s opponents with the fear-mongering image of the U.S. being flooded with trucks held together with baling wire driven by maniacs — really, a cover for economic fears. But we’ve been through all that before.

We don’t think Murray has been fear-mongering. Indeed, she put up a spirited defense throughout four days of debate, and her position is far more rational than the House’s foolish attempt to stop Nafta trucking by killing off safety funding. She certainly operated on a higher plane than the Senate leaders who sniped about who is anti-Hispanic and who is not. For all that, the ultimate outcome may come down to basic hardball politics.

Only a week ago, the threat that President Bush would draw his veto sword for the first time seemed to carry a real sting. Now, we may expect leaders on Capitol Hill to start counting noses to see if enough votes in the Republican-dominated House as well as the Senate under Democrat control would materialize to defy the president and turn back his veto.

This letter appears in the July 30 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.

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