The House of Representatives' move this week to block the Bush administration from allowing Mexican trucks into the country has been met with mixed results south of the border.

According to published reports, Mexican officials aren't happy about the surprise move, but Mexican truckers are relieved.
The House voted nearly two to one Tuesday, as part of its transportation appropriations bill, to not give any money to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to process Mexican trucking authority applications. The Bush administration plans to open the border to Mexican trucks next January, implementing long-delayed provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Mexico's economic secretary said if the measure takes effect, it will have no choice but to import U.S. imports. However, Mexican President Vicente Fox contradicted him, saying his country would not retaliate, according to Ernesto Ruffo, the Mexican commissioner of northern border affairs.
Manual Gomez, president of Mexico's main trucker's association, told the Associated Press his members don't want to go into the United States, and don't want U.S. trucks competing with them in Mexico.
Ruffo said his country recognizes that many of its trucks do not meet U.S. safety standards and that it must develop a program to address that -- as well as addressing concerns U.S. truckers have about driving into Mexico, such as the poor conditions of highways, lack of truckstops, and how drivers can call for help.
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