U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick said the Department of Transportation would soon issue final regulations to allow Mexican motor carriers access to U.S. markets
and fulfill U.S. obligations under the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Zoellick said that DOT Secretary Norm Mineta told him that DOT is very close to publishing NAFTA implementing regulations, according to a published update from the National Private Truck Council.
On March 19, DOT issued a series of interim and final rules on opening the border to Mexican carriers. Those rules would prohibit Mexican-domiciled carriers from operating in the U.S. until the FMCSA carries out a safety examination (for all carriers with more than three vehicles), gives each carrier a satisfactory safety rating, electronically verifies the status and validity of the Mexican driver's license for each carrier, and issues an identifying number to each Mexican truck crossing the border.
Pedro Cerisola, the Mexican minister of transportation and communications, complained last week about U.S. discrimination against Mexican carriers. He said that the U.S. has imposed one set of rules on Mexican trucks and another standard on U.S. and Canadian trucks. He noted that Mexico would consider bringing the issue back to a NAFTA Arbitration panel. Last year, a NAFTA arbitration panel ruled that the U.S. refusal to allow access to Mexican carriers was in violation of NAFTA.