Editorial: Opening the Border

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The Mexicans still aren’t coming. In a gesture of neighborly good will, President George W. Bush, not long after taking office, promised his friend and counterpart, Vicente Fox, president of Mexico, to get international trucking between the United States and Mexico going by the first of June, erasing a moratorium against Mexican truckers imposed unilaterally by the Clinton administration nearly seven years ago.

The decision by Mr. Clinton made a mockery of the trucking provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement, which his political party had fought so hard to get enacted. Mr. Bush’s promise attempted to wipe away the sour taste left in the mouths of many Mexicans and re-establish some semblance of U.S. credibility.

Reality, however, quickly caught up to the new administration and the Department of Transportation when it became apparent how much work had to be done before the border could be opened under any reasonable guarantee of safety.

Clearly, the original June 1 deadline couldn’t be met. For one thing, the White House had to acknowledge the demands of safety critics who wanted assurances that Mexican operators would meet all aspects of U.S. safety requirements when in this country.

But it may not take that much longer, either. Here we are in mid-May and DOT is saying everything is coming together in good order. Additional trucking safety inspectors are in training, inspection facilities and weigh stations are in place or being constructed and officials of the agency’s Office of Inspector General are closely reviewing the preparations. Congress wants an all-clear signal from the OIG before the border can be opened. The inspector general hopes to issue his report by mid-June.

Once approval is given, DOT says, it probably will take another month to process applications from Mexican truckers and audit their operations for safety fitness before the first one is admitted to the U.S.

It may take even longer. Safety auditors will have to be satisfied that Mexican truck operators understand and follow U.S. controls over the hours they can drive, fill out logbooks and are subject to a drug- and alcohol-testing regimen. All this must be done before they can drive on U.S. highways. It amounts to stricter scrutiny than start-up U.S. trucking operations have to go through, which may not see their first safety audits for up to 18 months after carrying their first loads.

So if it takes even longer to launch Nafta trucking, that’s all right, too. Because we have no doubt this time the promise will finally be fulfilled.

Eventually, the Mexicans will come.

This story appeared in the May 13 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.