DOT Says Border to Stay Closed

December 29, 1999 11:24 AM, EST

The Department of Transportation said it will not fully open this country’s southern border to commercial truck traffic from Mexico with the arrival of the new year.

“Nothing is going to happen on Jan. 1,” a DOT official said Dec. 22. “Mexican trucking will continue to be restricted to the commercial zone until we feel we have sufficient safety safeguards in place to ensure compliance with U.S. safety standards.”

In December 1995, the Clinton administration halted the first phase of access called for by the North American Free Trade Agreement’s cross-border trucking provisions, which would have allowed trucks carrying international cargo to serve each country’s border states. Access to all points in the United States and Mexico was to begin in 2000.

President Clinton said in October that he would not open the border until all safety concerns had been resolved ("NTSB's Next Focus Falls on NAFTA Trucking," 10-18, p. 3).

For the full story, see the Dec. 27 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.