Traffic With Big Benefits

The Clinton administration has no reason to delay any longer in implementing the trans-border trucking provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement. The president should listen to the four governors whose states border Mexico. They have seen the economic benefits of NAFTA trade and know these benefits will expand once truckers from both nations are free to move products to market.

A year ago, then-Transportation Secretary Federico Pena arbitrarily announced that this aspect of the NAFTA treaty would be shelved until safety and security requirements for Mexican trucks working north of the border were improved. It should be noted that Pena’s decision came in the heat of an election year when the Teamsters Union was loudly protesting the imminent opening of the border and the possibility that American truckers’ jobs might be jeopardized.

Now, a year after the Teamsters staged protests on the Texas border, the governors of California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas have stated their satisfaction with the vehicle safety and security measures being implemented by federal and border-state agencies. They are anxious to proceed with the program and reap the economic payoffs it promises on both sides of the border.

Opening Mexico to U.S. truckers, and of course vice versa, promises to boost the revenues of the U.S. trucking industry and, ultimately, even that of the protesting Teamsters.

Gov. Pete Wilson has ordered a $25-million investment to build and staff two facilities to monitor Mexican trucks and to ensure that California is fully prepared for safety inspections of commercial vehicles. Any Mexican vehicle deemed unsafe would not be permitted to cross.

In tandem with California, the Clinton administration should put aside any political hesitation and authorize and fund road and other infrastructure improvements required to handle increased commercial truck traffic across the border. Good business makes good neighbors.