WASHINGTON - Congressional opponents of allowing Mexican trucks on U.S. roads introduced two bills Thursday, as the chief of a federal agency told a House panel his inspectors are working to certify the safety of Mexican vehicles and drivers.The bills - seeking criminal and background checks of Mexico truckers as well as more information about the Mexican trucking sector - come a week after a U.S. Senate committee amended a spending bill to force the U.S. Transportation Department to hold off a pilot program for Mexican trucks until U.S. trucks have equal access to Mexico.
The United States may have to pay more than US$2 billion in penalties if it doesn´t open roads to Mexican trucks as required by the 1995 NAFTA accord, John Hill, chief of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, told a U.S. House subcommittee Thursday.
The U.S. Transportation Department plans to start a one- year test program next month to allow as many as 100 Mexican trucking companies to carry cargo beyond border zones.
The Mexican trucking association known as Canacar told a Mexican Senate committee last week that it opposes letting U.S. trucks carry cargo in Mexico. The group considers the U.S. requirements placed on Mexican trucks and drivers unfair, Canacar President Tirso Martínez wrote in a March 26 memo to members.
The Canacar memo said the group fears transport fees in Mexico would increase if U.S. trucks are allowed in.
Trade by truck between the two countries increased again in January, the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics said in figures released Thursday. The value of U.S. imports hauled by truck from Mexico rose 10 percent from a year earlier to US$10.5 billion, while the value of U.S. exports to Mexico carried by truck increased 0.9 percent to US$7.7 billion.
