Mexico protests US truck rules

To many here, the decision by the US Congress last week to impose special safety standards on Mexican trucks entering the US was confirmation of a long-held belief: The US bullies its poor southern neighbor.

From the loss of Texas and California in the 19th century to the signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1992, many Mexicans believe they've traditionally come out second best in their dealings with the States. Mexican lawmakers say last week's decision by the US Senate and Congress is a sign that little has changed.

"Mexicans feel that the US is taking all of the advantages and not playing fair with us," says Alonso Ulloa Velez, a legislator for the National Action Party (PAN) of President Vicente Fox. "That's why we're considering taking appropriate steps."

US lawmakers who sponsored the rules say they're simply trying to protect the public from sub-standard Mexican trucks. Opponents in the House say they smack of racism.

But the dispute could prove a harbinger of an increasingly testy trade relationship as the US and Mexican economies continue to slow. The rhetoric of protectionism has already become more appealing to politicians on either side of the border as unions have worried about job losses.

"I hope the United States Congress understands that this could become a greater issue" as Mexican political support rallies behind retaliatory measures, says Mr. Ulloa Velez.

One of the primary complaints is that the rules will hold Mexican trucks to a higher standard than trucks from the US and Canada, the other signatory to NAFTA. Since the measure is backed by the Teamsters union, which is fearful of losing jobs, critics in the US and Mexico say the safety issue is just cover for protectionism.

On Thursday, President Fox said Mexico will retaliate. "There currently aren't any American trucks in Mexico, and there won't be any unless we reach" an agreement, he told reporters. This issue figures to be on the agenda, along with immigration and drugs, when Mr. Fox visits Washington on Sept. 5.

Mexican officials hope that Mr. Bush, who has a strong personal rapport with Fox and is fighting the measure, will successfully veto the legislation. US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick said last week that the rule for Mexican trucks violates "the spirit of NAFTA by holding Mexico to a different standard."

But if Congress overturns the veto, as Democrat lawmakers have vowed to do, this may turn into something more than trucks.

"The trucks are a drop in the ocean," explains Alfredo Jalife-Rahme, a political science professor at the University of the Americas in Mexico City and a critic of NAFTA. He says US restrictions on the free movements of people and commodities, such as steel and sugar, reflect that.

Two-way trade soared from $38 billion in 1993 to about $250 billion last year in the absence of more liberal trucking rules. Cross-border shipping is now conducted by a fleet of Mexican and US trucks that are allowed to operate freely in a 20-mile band on either side of the border, and that won't be affected by the new rules.

Antonio Vasquez, the spokesman for the National Chamber of Road Cargo, an industry group, says that while Mexican drivers make $4 an hour, compared to $13 or so an hour for US drivers, Mexican companies aren't much of a threat to dominate the US market.

Mexico's trucking companies only have about 375,000 trucks, compared to 7 million US trucks, and their average age is 16 years, compared to five years in the States.

Borrowing here is more expensive, so there's no fast or easy way for Mexican companies to improve their fleets.

Mr. Vasquez says he's particularly upset about the new rules because only about 1 percent of Mexico's trucks would have been allowed into the US under the old rules. He says it appears the law has been designed to exclude all Mexican trucks.

Vasquez, whose family owns one of Mexico's largest trucking companies, is angry about the restrictions. "This is a matter of dignity. You come to me, you say let's sign a deal together. Then, later, when I want to eat a taco, you tell me to go eat it two tables away."

"The US has been violating its agreements with us since 1994," when NAFTA came into effect, Vasquez says. Then, Mexican trucks were supposed to be allowed full access to the border states by 1995, and to the rest of the US in 2001. But former President Bill Clinton decided to keep Mexico's trucks out.

In February, a NAFTA arbitration panel found that the US was violating the agreement and could be forced to pay a $2 billion penalty if it didn't allow Mexican trucks in, and the Bush administration said it would comply by January 2002. That prompted Congress, led by Democrats, to add the restrictions to a broader $60 billion transportation bill.