U.S. proposes to open roads to Mexican trucks

[The Straight Story]

U.S. proposes to open roads to Mexican trucks
By Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration on Thursday proposed a new inspection and monitoring regime to permit long-haul trucks from Mexico on U.S. highways after years of delays over safety concerns and political wrangling.


The Transportation Department's compromise seeks to revive efforts to fulfill a key provision of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which is highly unpopular with labor but supported by many businesses as a cost advantage.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood called the plan by his agency a starting point to renew negotiations with Mexico, which has slapped tariffs on U.S. products over the delay.

The Transportation Department said the plan, which would eventually need congressional and Mexican government approval, would prioritize safety and that a formal proposal is due to be announced in coming months.

http://theusdaily.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=1306651&type=home

[DrDan]

1. this will help out our job situation . . .

[Kip Humphrey]

2. ... by increasing road fatalities on our highways.

[Marengo]

5. Hey, think of it this way

More fatalities means less competition in the job market!
:woohoo:

[no_hypocrisy]

3. Why this isn't a good idea

1. Companies will ship to Mexico, to allow cheaper trucking into this country. Mexican trucks would be allowed to travel not just "locally" to Texas, California, and Arizona, but literally anywhere, to Maine if desired. Loss of American jobs in trucking.

2. Mexican trucks may be dangerous as far as safety and air pollution. Would any be "turned back" if there was an exhaust belching black smoke?

3. Mexican drivers may not have a uniform, standard of driving performance.

[Canuckistanian]

14. And they're not going to be paying road taxes

And the additional strain on the publicly-funded highways that will have to be paid for out of the general fund.

[somone]

18. Also, documentation forgery is rampant

The problem with fake insurance and inspection paperwork is huge. Not to mention corruption and bribery at all levels.

This is a very bad deal for America.

[soryang]

4. Add another 1.5 percent to US unemployment

Longshoremen jobs on the west coast and trucking jobs nationwide. Way to go Obama! The globalists get their way every time with this guy.

[DainBramaged]

6. Here we fucking go again with this shit.....

More unemployment, more deaths, more injuries, racing to the bottom again. Juan will drive to Los Angeles for 8 cents a mile.......


The Obama Administration, once again showing the way to full employment, of our Allies....

[doc03]

7. Look at any newspaper one of the few industries

that there are job openings is trucking. So now Obama wants to kill those jobs, W tried and failed to pass it through now a Democrat does it. Same thing happened with NAFTA GHWB couldn't get it passed and then Clinton passed it. Every time someone complains about jobs what do you hear from the Rethugs? Clinton passed NAFTA!

[n2doc]

8. All you need to know:

But Tom Donohue, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, applauded the move. "If we're going to double exports (globally) within five years, we must hold on to export markets, such as Mexico," Donohue said in a statement.



If the CoC supports it, it is bad for American Workers.

[BadgerKid]

9. So the NAFTA Superhighway idea is alive again?

Just browsing the web, there is one very early report saying the infrastructure of the interstate highways would be inadequate. The suggested preference was to widen roads and fortify bridges instead of undertaking major upgrades. More recently, Texas has supposedly run into funding problems with widening I-35.

sources:
http://activerain.com/blogsview/1337194/txdot-interstate-35-widening-temple-texas
http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=57175

Obviously there is a short-term opportunity here to "put America to work." Whether there was an intentional effort in the last few years to back-door in progress toward the superhighway remains to be seen. (Edit2: The idea of creating/using a recession to gain more NAFTA traction is a scary thought.)

The long-term risks are an unhappy prospect: possible in-sourcing a of trucking industry and a labor force to maintain the roadways.


Edit1: grammar

[n2doc]

10. I think that takes too much money

They will just stick the dangerous traffic on the existing crumbling roads. After all, who cares if a few middle class or poor americans die in accidents with Mexican truck drivers? They aren't the important ones. Those folks fly jets and helicopters to their destinations. :sarcasm:

[ProSense]

20. Ah, Swift Liar Jerome Corsi's Worldnut Daily RW crap from 2007 n/t

[MadHound]

11. Ah, looking to outsource another profession in this country.

At the expense of lives and property of American citizens.

And the hits just keep coming.

[bullwinkle428]

12. So Bill "Mr. NAFTA" Daley hasn't even gotten his feet wet on the job,

and another wet dream from that act gets the "full speed ahead" command!

[madrchsod]

13. NO!

[Cleita]

15. Oh good. First we don't want them coming over the

border, but now we are going to make it easier for them. Not only is our country becoming a third world country but now we are bringing them to us. Have we no shame when it comes to exploiting the downtrodden for a buck?

[guitar man]

16. Dammit!! NO!!

When that truck gets to the border they have NO way of knowing how long that driver has been awake and at the wheel, what kind of safety inspections that truck has had, if it's ever been wrecked and the frame bubble-gum welded back together. My Dad is probably rolling in his grave right now. He was a lifelong OTR trucker, Die hard Teamster with well over 3 million accident free miles when he retired. The first time they brought this shit up he explained in vivid detail why it was a bad idea then, and it's still a bad idea now. :grr:

[somone]

17. Of course, the drug cartels won't avail themselves of these trucks

Stupid, stupid idea.

[ProSense]

19. The Obama administration has barred Mexican trucking since March 2009

Obama Plan Aims to Ease Mexican Trucking Ban

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration offered a proposal on Thursday to allow long-haul Mexican trucks to move cargo in the United States.

The proposal, which the Mexican government greeted as a positive step, was the latest sign of a new willingness by the Obama administration to support free-trade measures backed by Republicans and by businesses despite objections from labor unions and other liberal constituencies.

The United States has effectively barred Mexican trucks from operating on American roads since March 2009. Mexico said the ban violated the North American Free Trade Agreement, which took effect in 1994, and retaliated by imposing $2.4 billion in punitive tariffs on a wide range of American agricultural and other products imported to Mexico.

On Thursday, the United States transportation secretary, Ray LaHood, offered a “concept document” that could help resolve the dispute.

<...>

Here is the Teamsters statement: Hoffa 'Deeply Disappointed' In Mexican Trucks Proposal