Mexico Returns PRI to Presidency

Enrique Peña Nieto won Mexico’s presidential election on July 1, returning the once-dominant Institutional Revolutionary Party to power following a 12-year hiatus.

Peña Nieto’s party, known as PRI, is also the party of Carlos Salinas de Gortari, who negotiated the North American Free Trade Agreement on Mexico’s behalf when he was president from 1988 to 1994.

Under Nafta, the United States agreed to let Mexico-based trucking companies send their trucks into the United States and a pilot program allowing approved Mexican trucks into the country resumed, though participation by Mexican carriers has been limited.

Peña Nieto’s statements thus far “are very supportive of the U.S.-Mexico trading relationship, and he wants to continue to grow trade volumes,” said Martin Rojas, vice president of security and operations at American Trucking Associations.

“I don’t see any potential negative impact on U.S.-Mexico trade from the Peña Nieto election,” Rojas told Transport Topics.

Peña Nieto is scheduled to take office Dec. 1.