Senate Considers Blocking Mexican Trucks

WASHINGTON (AP) – A Mexican truck made its way back home from North Carolina while the Senate considered whether to allow more trucks to travel to the U.S. interior.

The Senate was to vote Tuesday whether to end funding for a program allowing Mexican trucks to travel beyond commercial zones at the border. The program allows up to 100 Mexican carriers to send trucks on U.S. roadways for delivery and pickup of cargo. None can carry hazardous material or haul cargo between U.S. points.

The proposed funding halt, sponsored by Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., is part of a larger bill paying for transportation and housing programs likely to get Senate approval later in the week. The House approved a similar provision in July as part of its version of the spending bill. The Department of Transportation granted a single Mexican carrier, Transportes Olympic, access to U.S. roads last week after a more than decade-long dispute over a North American Free Trade Agreement provision opening up the roadways.

One of the carrier’s trucks crossed the border in Laredo last week and delivered its cargo in North Carolina on Monday. The truck was to pick up steel in Decatur, Ala., and cross back into Mexico possibly by the end of the week, said Jose Gil, Transportes Olympic traffic manager. The steel will be resold in Mexico, he said. The North American Free Trade Agreement, signed by the U.S., Mexico and Canada, opened the countries’ highways to one another’s commercial trucks beginning in 1995.

Canadian trucks were granted access to U.S. roads but Mexican trucks’ entry to the U.S. had been stalled for years by opposition from organized labor and safety groups. Gil said his company chose a local, bilingual driver, who has not had an accident or citation. “He’s very honest and responsible,” Gil said. The company will assess its first truck’s trip before sending other trucks, he said.

A message left with Stagecoach Cartage & Distribution Inc. of El Paso, Texas, which has been granted access to Mexico’s roads, was not immediately returned. The amendment is S. 1789.

By SUZANNE GAMBOA Associated Press Writer

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