U.S., Mexico agree to address trucking issue

U.S., Mexico agree to address trucking issue    U.S. and Mexican transportation officials on Monday committed to set up a working group to resolve a cross-border trucking dispute that led Mexico last year to impose tariffs on U.S. goods.
   The announcement suggests that progress towards Mexican truck access to the U.S. market, as called for under the North American Free Trade Agreement, is not close to being resolved, as U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood implied last month.
   Last spring, Congress killed a pilot program that allowed dozens of Mexican trucking companies that met U.S. safety standards to make deliveries in the interior of the country. Mexico retaliated by imposing tariffs on 90 different U.S. products. At the time, LaHood said the Obama administration was working quickly to restructure the pilot program to address concerns on Capitol Hill. Several environmental, labor and public safety advocacy groups have kept pressure on lawmakers to prevent Mexican trucks from operating in the United States.
   Last August, President Obama met with Mexican President Felipe Calderon in Mexico and promised to find a compromise.
   In early March, LaHood again suggested the administration was close to finalizing a plan that would allow a restart of a modified pilot program.
   Meanwhile, many members of the House have heard from constituents and businesses in their districts about the impact of $2.2 billion worth of lost sales south of the border and are pressing the administration to quickly resolve the trucking dispute.
   A communiqu' from the meeting between LaHood and Juan Molinar Horcasitas, secretary of communications and transportation, in Nuevo Laredo, described the cross-border trucking situation as a matter of 'highest priority.'
   No details about the working group, such as who would participate or when its recommendations would be due, were provided.
   The joint statement said the secretaries also reviewed prospective rail and highway projects in the border region and pledged to coordinate transportation planning. ' Eric Kulisch