William Canary, president and CEO of the American Trucking Assns. (ATA), has commended President Bush for his announcement last week allowing qualified motor carriers from Mexico to obtain operating authority for cross-border truck services.

"We congratulate President Bush on the leadership that he provided in implementing the provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement and allowing the application process to move forward," Canary said. "This will only help further trade relations between our two countries."
Trucking plays an important role in the NAFTA trade relationship by moving more than 80% of the value of freight between the United States and Mexico, Canary added.
Further, motor carriers domiciled in Mexico operating in the United States will be subject to the same federal and state laws, regulations and procedures that apply to carriers domiciled in the United States.
These include safety regulations, such as drug and alcohol testing requirements; insurance requirements; taxes and fees. It also includes other applicable laws and regulations, such as those administered by the United States Customs Service, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the Department of Labor, and Federal and State environmental agencies.
"While this is great news for American industry, we now think it also time to move forward on another, as yet, unmet NAFTA commitment to provide national treatment to U.S. express package carriers operating in Mexico," Canary said. "We look forward to working with the governments of all three NAFTA countries to improve cross border trucking operations."