LOWRY: The big truck turnaround

The Washington Times ^ | March 28, 2009 | Rich Lowry

[Scanian]

Anyone worried that, once in charge, Democrats wouldn't be vigilant in protecting our southern border can relax. The grave threat of Mexican long-haul truckers has been shut down. With any luck, Mexicans will never have the temerity to attempt to deliver commercial goods into the United States again.

At least such is the fervid hope of the Teamsters, the fiercest adversary the Mexicans have faced since President James K. Polk sent Winfield Scott south in the Mexican-American War. The union can't abide Mexican trucks because they represent competition, and so they must be blocked - legal obligations, economic rationality and diplomatic sense aside.

We agreed with Mexico in the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1994 to open the border states to Mexican trucking by 1995 and the entire country by 2000. Otherwise a fairly stalwart free-trader, former President Bill Clinton never delivered on that obligation. A NAFTA panel in 2001 ruled that we were in the wrong. Given how sacrosanct Democrats consider treaties, this should have settled the matter - if it weren't for the outsized power of the Teamsters.

[Scanian]

"Teamsters prove borders can be policed, despite treaties"

[Recon Dad]

Wouldn't it be great if all those sneaking across the border now were auto workers. The UAW would be calling for the Army to be mowing them down with machine guns.

[Nick Danger]

Wouldn't it be great if all those sneaking across the border now were auto workers.

They are auto workers. With the government takeover of General Motors, we need Mexicans to build the cars Americans won't buy.

[Vaduz]

we need Mexicans to build the cars Americans won’t buy.The burning question is will the cars come stock with taco holders.

[1rudeboy]

Anti-trade politicians talk of Mexican trucks as if they were the Tripod fighting machines deployed by the Martians in "War of the Worlds."

[chuckle]

[1rudeboy]

"Teamsters prove borders can be policed, despite treaties"

Except that in this case, the Teamster border is 20 miles inside the United States.

[sausageseller]

I am sure Mr. Lowery and others have watched the stream of unfit, dangerous, crap trucks coming across the border.

The safety issue alone is enough to stop them!

[Jimmy Valentine]

We have a truck compact of long-standing with the Canadians.

I have seen Canadian truckers and rigs all over at least the eastern areas of the U.S.

I always wondered why we couldn't take a copy of that compact, scratch out "Canada" write in "Mexico" and tell them "sign here."

[1rudeboy]

The safety issue is a red herring. Despite a ban on them dating from the 1980s, 800 Mexican trucks were allowed to continue operating in the United States. "A survey by the Arizona Republic newspaper found that those Mexican trucks allowed to operate in the U.S. have a superior safety record compared with U.S.-owned trucks," Daniel Griswold of the Cato Institute writes. The Transportation Department also found no safety problem with the trucks here under the new pilot program.

[sausageseller]

Canada and the US have similar driver and vehicle regulations. Mexico has virtually no regulation.

[sausageseller]

BS!

There are no trucking laws in Mexico similar to US and Canada. Those are "select" trucks under the program. Have you witnessed the trucks coming over that stay within the 20 mile area? I have. They are rolling pieces of crap!

Also those trucks in the program are associated with US trucking companies. One of the largest truck load carriers in the US "Swift" has one of those trucking companies. They are not your average truck coming over the border.

[Batrachian]

Allowing Mexican trucks into the U.S. benefits us the same way that allowing Mexican immigrants, be they legal or illegal, into this country.

Can anyone yet say how this initiative benefits America? Shaving a couple of pennies per ton of merchandise isn't a good enough answer.

Let's keep the Third World in the Third World and out of the United States.

[1rudeboy]

I've been asking the same question for over a decade here on FR: if Mexican trucks are not as safe as American (or Canadian) trucks, then there would be a demonstrable and higher level of accidents and safety violations by Mexican trucks inside the twenty-mile buffer zone.

The fact that no opponent of Mexican trucks has been able to prove it speaks volumes. Opponents have had more than ten years to do so.

Personally (and knowing that short-haul trucks are inherently more prone to safety violations and accidents than long-haulers), I believe that the numbers aren't showing-up because American short-haul trucks are also bringing down the curve.

I've seen my share of unsafe trucks on the road: just pull into the Steel City truck stop in Gary, Indiana or the Wyoming Truck Stop in Detroit, Michigan if you need to see examples. They were mostly short-haulers hauling scrap metal (and noticeable to me because the companies I worked-for generated scrap metal). If people (including the Teamsters) were truly concerned about safety, they'd be trying to get all of these trucks off the road, American, Mexican, and Canadian.

[1rudeboy]

Shaving a couple of pennies per ton of merchandise isn't a good enough answer.

If shaving pennies isn't a good enough answer, then we should add a couple pennies and unload/reload the material more than than the four times under the current system. Think of the jobs that would create.

[deport]

Another article with info on the safety record:

http://mexicotrucker.com/wall-street-journal-mexican-truck-stop

.....Earlier this year, the DOT analyzed the safety record of Mexican carriers in the U.S. from 2003-2006. It looked at the rate in which trucks received an “out-of-service” designation by DOT inspectors targeting companies with the worst records. The out-of-service rate for U.S. trucks was 23.5%, compared to a rate for trucks from Mexico of 21.29%. Mexican short-haul trucks operating in the border zone also had a better record than the U.S. trucks, with an out-of-service rate of 22.5%......

[Mase]

Anti-trade politicians talk of Mexican trucks as if they were the Tripod fighting machines deployed by the Martians in "War of the Worlds."

I believe I read on FR that the purpose of Mexican trucks in the US was to transport Chinese troops north on the NAFTA superhighway. I think it was a Corsi article. LOL

[chainsaw]

Eventually what will happen is the US will take over the Mexican government, and all of Mexico. The 51st state of Old Mexico. Just a part of the trilateral, one world government.

Sorry Mexico, you and your people will be assimilated and become irrelevant.

[Ditter]

Does the "out of service" mean that they were in the repair shop?

Maybe they were being repaired like the Mexican airline plane we rode on a few years ago.

While boarding an Aero Mexico plane in Houston bound for Cozumel, we laughed about the patch of duct tape covering the nose of the plane. On our trip back home we suspected it was the same plane because the duct tape was still visable through the fresh coat of paint on the nose of the plane.

That gentlemen, is why I don't want Mexican trucks on US highways.

[deport]

Does the “out of service” mean that they were in the repair shop?

---

My understanding of ‘out of service’ is the truck/trailer doesn’t move with the load until the repairs are done.

[sausageseller]

I have watched and seen the trucks in Gary and Chicago. I have seen the trucks bought at US truck auctions that are hauled to Mexico and trucks at border crossings. No comparison.

Just look at the picture on the article page. How many cabovers do you seen running the US roads? They buy wore out US junk trucks and haul them to Mexico. Use bailing wire and whatever they can find and keep them going.

You can post all the articles and studies you want . I have seen it my own eyes.