Posted on 09/01/2007 11:04:13 AM PDT by Reagan Man
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration can proceed with a plan to open the U.S. border to long haul Mexican trucks as early as next week after an appeals court rejected a bid by labor, consumer and environmental interests to block the initiative.
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The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco late on Friday denied an emergency petition sought by the Teamsters union, the Sierra Club and consumer group Public Citizen to halt the start of a one-year pilot program that was approved by Congress after years of legal and political wrangling.
The Transportation Department welcomed the decision and said in a statement that allowing more direct shipments from Mexico will benefit U.S. consumers.
The 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement approved broader access for ground shipments from both countries but the Clinton administration never complied with the trucking provision. A special tribunal ordered the Bush administration to do so in 2001.
"This is the wrong decision for working men and women," Jim Hoffa, president of the Teamsters, said in a statement after the court ruling. "We believe this program clearly breaks the law." The Teamsters represents truckers that would be affected by the change.
The emergency stay was sought on grounds the administration's pilot program had not satisfied the U.S. Congress' requirements on safety and other issues. But the appeals court ruled otherwise.
SAFETY ASPECTS
The administration plans to start the program on September 6. Transportation Department officials hope to receive final clearance early next week from the department's inspector general's office, which is reviewing its safety aspects, and finalize details with Mexican authorities.
The Mexican government must grant reciprocal access to U.S. trucks under NAFTA. That provision is not expected to be a problem, regulators said.
Mexican trucks operating in the United States have for years been restricted to U.S. points near certain large border crossings where their goods are transferred to trucks owned by U.S. firms.
Under the pilot program, Mexican long haul trucking companies that have met safety, licensing, and other U.S. requirements will be allowed to operate their rigs throughout the country. Proponents say this will reduce costs and speed up shipments.
Trucking regulators said in a court filing the goal is to gradually accommodate 100 Mexican trucking companies by the end of the pilot program, or roughly 540 large trucks.
But opponents said those figures do not reflect the number of companies that could seek access to U.S. roads if the pilot is successful, which they said raises safety concerns.
"This (pilot) program is basically a show trial. They haven't provided notice up front about who will participate. You just don't know what the program will look like," said Bonnie Robin-Vergeer, attorney for Public Citizen.
Public Citizen and the Teamsters still plan to proceed with a lawsuit they filed in federal court, challenging the Mexican truck program on broader grounds. That case will not likely be decided until next year.
Trucks from Canada have no operating restrictions in the United States.
Beware, it's not just the court. Our president, congress and many others in the ruling class want this. They pushed for open borders, amnesty etc in an effort to destroy our sovereignty and our legitimate borders. This goes way beyond the 9th.
Their amnesty has been delayed, and this was in the works. This will do until they can eventually make our borders and sovereignty all but pointless.
This is all part of the plan, regardless of what the legitimate citizens of America want.
I know he was ordered to do this but seems to me there should be more discussion in light of 9-11. This is ludicrous. Just wait and see what this kind of move will bring to our country. Just wait.
You better be keeping your eye on this. It probably wouldn’t hurt to learn how to pronounce la trocha, hombre.
Canadians and US Citizens have roughly the same standard of living. Thus when competing for jobs, the same scales of value are used. When you bring a group into this mix that is plenty happy to take much less pay, you destabalize the market.
This is rather simple. If you don’t see anything wrong with replacing our truckers with people who are willing to take 1/2 the salary they do, you and I disagree on this.
I don’t want to see US truckers undercut by people who don’t have families or lifestyles in the US to support.
LOL!!
Soon to be followed by a federal court injunction prohibiting careful searches of their contents.
Just like the illegal alien situation where the feds refuse to do their duty the States will have to step in.
Bush & Co. were mortified amnesty failed, so now they will ship the illegals in by truck.
So they are going to be allowed to transport between two domestic American destinations?
“Soon to be followed by a federal court injunction prohibiting careful searches of their contents.”
Oh yes!!!!
I don't disagree with that dragnet. Mexico is literally an overflowing sewer.
That said, I must tell you that most of my life I had a pretty smug attitude about the corruption in places like Latin America and Africa. The last couple of decades of observing every level of government in this country has taken a lot of my smugness away.
I honestly don’t know at this point. I’m just raising the posibility. Even if they can’t now, you just wait five years or so until the deal changes. I don’t trust this free trade crowd one bit having seen what passes for morals for them.
WELCOME Freepers to the world of a globalized economy. I think the Mexican truck drivers are decent, no complaining from some one who LIVES in south of the border. Stop your whining, it was in the NAFTA agreement, and there were some good things, and poor things, for both of the countries. But things are looking up for both countries. Come on, give it a chance. Let the American truckers roll their rigs into Mexico onto some of these turnpikes paid for by a cash out lay of the Clintons. It’s a wonderful world, if we work together we can get an edge and a handle on the market and thwart the RED CHINESE
YOU’RE DEAD WRONG! There is only one American Trucking Company period that OWNS a Mexican Trucking Company, and it isn’t Schneider. This ownership deal was consumated years before the NAFTA agreement was inked.
I cannot and will not state any further on this matter, but want to nip your conspiracy thoughts in their budding form. It just ain’t so Alberta’s Child.
Understand this, the American Truckers are fighting tooth and nail for the freight existing as it is. With the addition of Mexican Truckers to the scene you will see many go under. This deal is a one way street you and I will pay for dearly in lives lost and jobs lost.
This will not simply effect the trucking industry, but also other aspects of the shipping industry as well. This will open up movement to Mexico of other related Industry.
American trucking companies will lose millions, so will the Teamsters. American trucking companies will register in Mexico to avoid paying state taxes, etc.. Sigh.
As long as they’re not taking over routes that Americans truckers are doing now (domestic) I don’t see how they will take from American jobs unless, as you say, they change the regulations on that later. I don’t see any downside to this right now unless I’m missing something.
Logistics is basically a broker. Say a shipper has a load coming from Mexico City. The Logistics operator has a pocketful of Mexican Truckers phone numbers and calls one for the client to arrange the load be moved from “A” to the border, or the trailer to be “Interchanged” at the border to an American Trucker for movement to point “B”, the final destination.
Logistics doesn’t mean they own anything, more often they own a phone and a computer. That’s it. They are nothing but matchmakers and gain their profit for their service as such.
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