When was the last time freight transportation was a hot topic in Washington? It's been awhile, but cargo transportation has indisputably become front-page news today because of the ongoing dispute between the United States and Mexico over cross-border trucking

The issue has caught the public's eye because of concerns raised by the Teamsters and other groups over the safety record of Mexican motor carriers. The union has further raised public awareness through a radio advertising campaign that urges listeners to express their views on the topic to President Bush.

The melodramatic events surrounding the issue of Mexican truck access also have created a high level of public interest. They began in February with the decision by an arbitration panel that the United States had violated the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1995 when the Clinton administration barred Mexican motor carriers from operating beyond the border commercial zone. Immediately after the panel announced that decision, President Bush ordered the Department of Transportation (DOT) to issue rules that would open the border by Jan. 1, 2002. He also asked Congress to include money for additional vehicle inspectors and inspection facilities at the U.S.-Mexico border. Opponents, meanwhile, whipped up fears that Mexican truckers would soon begin pouring across the border.

In May, the DOT caused an uproar when it proposed allowing Mexican carriers to enter the United States if they certified that they were in compliance with applicable federal and state regulations. Under that proposal, the carriers would also have to submit to a safety inspection within 18 months after receiving conditional approval of their operating permits.

Predictably, that was unacceptable to many in Congress. In June, the House of Representatives approved an amendment to the FY2002 Transportation Appropriations bill (H.R. 2299) that prohibited the use of federal funds to process Mexican motor carriers' applications to operate in the United States beyond the border commercial zone. In effect, that provision would prevent the DOT from issuing any such operating permits. The House bill also failed to include funding for the additional inspectors and facility improvements requested by President Bush.

On July 12, Sen. Patricia Murray (D-Wash.), chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee's Transportation Subcommittee, and Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) attached an amendment to the Senate's version of the transportation appropriations bill. That provision would require the DOT to meet specific standards on vehicle inspector training, staffing levels, inspection facilities, operating schedules, and penalties for substandard Mexican vehicles and drivers. It also included $103 million to fund additional federal inspectors, motor carrier safety grants to border states, and construction and improvement of inspection facilities along the U.S.-Mexico border. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) later characterized the funding measure as being "well intentioned" but said that the safety requirements "if enacted without modifications, could effectively prevent the opening of the border indefinitely." (Shortly before press time, a Republican filibuster aimed at defeating that measure ended after an appeal by President Bush to get on with the appropriations process. The following day, a series of Republican-sponsored amendments that were designed to undermine the Murray/Shelby amendment were defeated.)

On July 16, Mexican President Vicente Fox was the guest of honor at a dinner hosted by the U.S.-Mexico Chamber of Commerce and U.S. automakers in Detroit. Prior to the dinner, he met separately with James P. Hoffa and United Auto Workers President Stephen Yokich to discuss the truck access issue and union organizing in Mexico. Hoffa characterized the meeting as "frank and open," calling it the beginning of a dialogue that the union hoped would "increase communication and understanding" between the Teamsters and the Mexican government.

Two days later, both the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure's Subcommittee on Highways and Transit and the full Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee held hearings on Mexican truck access. Hoffa; DOT Secretary Norman Mineta; DOT Inspector General Kenneth Mead; Duane Acklie, chairman of the American Trucking Associations; and Capt. Steven Vaughn, president of the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, were on both witness lists. Also submitting statements were Edward L. Emmett, president of the National Industrial Transportation League; Texas Secretary of State Henry Cuellar; Dr. James Giermanski, professor of international business at Belmont Abbey College and a Logistics columnist; and representatives of advocacy groups like Public Citizen and Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety.

During the hearings, DOT Secretary Norman Mineta acknowledged that the original proposal for granting operating authority to Mexican carriers was unacceptable. After asserting that the United States would adhere to the letter of the law and pledging to assure equal treatment for Mexican carriers, Mineta proposed a new safety-compliance program that would include the following:

• Safety reviews of records and regulatory compliance prior to awarding provisional operating authority, to be conducted in person at either a federal border facility or at the carrier's place of business in Mexico;
• Increased staffing and, eventually, Level 1 (under-the-vehicle) inspections for every Mexican-domiciled truck;
• Driver safety compliance audits;
• Additional permanent inspection stations that would be open around the clock;
• Mandatory safety audits of performance data, to be conducted in person at either a federal border facility or at the carrier's place of business in Mexico; and
• A bilateral industry education program.

He also outlined plans for adding data on Mexican carriers to the Motor Carrier Management Information System, which would be available to enforcement and safety officials nationwide. Mineta then threw the ball back to Congress by noting that the final appropriations bill would have to include funding for all of those initiatives.

Two overriding themes emerged from the hearings that will govern the debate from here on in. First, there is much more at stake than safety. "Cross-border trucking has become an important symbolic issue for the government of Mexico and, if mishandled, will have far-reaching ramifications for our trade and broader foreign policy relationship," warned Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Peter F. Allgeier at the House hearing.

And second, the Bush administration will require that the application of safety compliance regulations to Mexican carriers be non-discriminatory. "... [I]f a truck from a NAFTA nation complies with U.S. safety and other U.S. standards, it should be allowed on U.S. roads and it should not matter whether that truck is operated by U.S., Mexican, or Canadian trucking companies," said Cuellar of Texas. "What we must make sure of is that we have the physical, technological, and human infrastructure to ensure that only compliant trucks are allowed to cross the border."