- WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The
Bush administration cleared the way Wednesday for Mexican long-haul trucks
to begin operating throughout the United States, probably in early 2003.
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- Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta acting on a White
House directive, ordered his agency to review the 130 applications from
Mexican trucking and bus firms that want to operate on U.S. highways.
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- "President Bush has made good on his commitment
to open the border to international trucking and cross-border regular route
bus service. This will help increase trade between our countries,"
Mineta said.
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- In an order earlier in the day, President Bush removed
long-standing obstacles that had prevented Mexican trucks from operating
freely in the United States as allowed under the North American Free Trade
Agreement.
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- The Clinton administration, which negotiated NAFTA with
Mexico and Canada in 1994, barred Mexican trucks from operating on U.S.
roads because of safety concerns and opposition from organized labor even
though the trade agreement permitted it.
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- Mexican trucks are currently restricted to a 20-mile
commercial zone in U.S. border states where they load their cargo on American
trucks for wider transport.
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- Under regulations mandated by Congress in 2001, Mexican
long-haul trucking companies will have to satisfy a series of safety requirements
before being allowed to operate on U.S. roads.
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- Last year 4.3 million trucks that entered the United
States from Mexico, but that figure included Mexican and U.S. trucks and
some of them presumably made multiple crossings.
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