Let’s think about this. Our do-nothing Congress does nothing to prevent Mexican trucks from driving into the United States and moving around, as do the Canadians, delivering and picking up freight wherever they can get it. For this “privilege”, the Mexicans have or will be cutting the tariffs they imposed on a bunch of U.S goods, such as apples, potatoes, cherries and pork. As you can imagine, a lot of farmers are happy. These tariffs were imposed by Mexico because the Congress halted their trucks from entry (past a 25 mile limit from the border to deliver freight to terminal and brokers) into the U.S. The farmers where unfairly punished and put in the middle of a fight that wasn’t their’s.
Can we agree on something? Canada is not Mexico. When you think of Canada, illegal immigrants, murders and beheadings, drug cartels, terrorism, poor people seeking work being stuffed for a price into hot sweltering trailers, just don’t come to mind. With Mexico, it does. Add in the component that our own corporations have screwed us by moving their manufacturing operations across the border and forcing millions of Americans out of work. The past and present Administration has only given in to Mexico’s demands. The only benefit I see to this is the availability of more jobs to illegal immigrants to produce more apples, potatoes, cherries and pork to ship back to Mexico.
Meanwhile, in a lousy economy, with companies still leaving the U.S. to Mexico to take advantage of their cheap labor, the farmers have relief, but now it’s time for American truckers to get screwed. This what Secretary La Hood has to say: “The agreements signed today are a win win for roadway safety and are a win for trade”. To put it bluntly, he is clueless. He might as well be the Secretary of Transportation for the Mexican government, because, for sure, he is not (and never has) acted on behalf of the American trucking industry.
Let’s leave prejudice aside. I’ve spent time in Mexico and I know their people are intelligent, work hard and want everything that American workers used to have and they should have it. There are good and bad truck drivers and trucking companies on both sides of the border. To say that a Mexican trucking company cannot operate a truck here in the U.S. safely and put a qualified driver behind the wheel who can do the job as well as an American driver is just not true. Safety is not the issue here.
The issue is this. Trucking to and from Mexico is big business. Take Laredo for example – head down I-35 and when you see the big T/A, Flying J on one side of the highway and the huge Pilot on the other, everything else from there to the border involves brokers. Just about every American trucking company has a terminal there. Try to go from one end of Laredo to the other and you will frequently have to stop at a rail crossing to let long trains packed with cargo or intermodal railcars moving automobiles and goods into the U.S. The same stuff that used to be made here. The same applies to El Paso and all the other commercial border crossings.
Right now, this “traffic” is dominated by U.S. trucking companies. Trucks – not on rail – move South and transfer their freight to the broker or drop the trailer there and a Mexican trucking company crosses the border to the plant that used to be in the U.S. Northbound freight moves by Mexican trucker back through the border and is deposited at the broker or terminal to be picked up and delivered by an American driver. This process has worked well for a long time.
It used to be that way to and from Canada – no longer. It’s all about NAFTA. But, NAFTA, they tell us, cannot be completed without the Mexican trucks having the freedom to enter and move about the U.S. as the Canadians do. What happened to the Canadian freight? It went to Canadian companies. What’s going to happen to the Mexican freight? It’s going to the Mexicans. Our government thinks that’s fine.
But, with this lousy economy, where jobs are not being generated, American businesses continue to relocate their plants and jobs to Mexico or the Pacific Rim. Meanwhile, drug violence is at an all time high, the Administration and the do-nothing Congress sticks it’s head in the sand when dealing with illegal immigrants and most Americans, especially truckers who are clearly the victims here, just don’t get any warm-fuzzes over any mention of NAFTA and how all this is going to make us all prosper. American farmers might be the winners here and they will surely employ more illegals to get the job done. The Mexican trucking companies have won the poker game with the U.S. that is cross-border trucking. The American truck driver loses, again.
PS/part of this “new” arrangement is that U.S. trucking companies (and drivers) can drive freight into Mexico. When is the last time you delivered to Canada. It takes about 3 minutes to cross the border, let’s say at Windsor, but to get a load back into the U.S. and clear our customs could take days. Many American truckers refuse to do it. So, let’s add in the Mexican drug cartel violence. Do you want to take your load across the border into Mexico for little or no extra pay?
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