US: NAFTA Trucking Provisions Should Stay Contend AAFA

Trade & Policy

US: NAFTA Trucking Provisions Should Stay Contend AAFA

According to a FAITMA report, the American Apparel and Footwear Association (AAFA) has jointly penned a letter with 100 odd trade associations to the US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, pressing for the maintenance of NAFTA’s cross-border trucking provisions in any renegotiated agreement. “Businesses would be adversely affected if NAFTA trucking is done away with,” said the letter.

As US manufacturers, farmers and agribusinesses, wholesalers, retailers, importers, exporters, distributors, and transportation and logistics providers utilize truck transportation to haul products across the US-Mexican border, eliminating NAFTA trucking, including any investment protections, would have a long-term negative impact on businesses, said the FAITMA report quoting an AAFA press release.

Increasing trade in both directions is putting more and more pressure on US southern border land ports and therefore, permitting Mexican carriers to haul freight beyond the border zones will help alleviate some of the congestion at the border, creating more efficiency, the release said.

Mexican carriers and drivers are not permitted to haul domestic US freight, but work in tandem with their US motor carrier partners, said, AAFA.

According to the report, the Mexican trucking program is not an open-door policy that permits any and all Mexican trucking companies to haul freight beyond the border zones. Mexican carriers undergo a case-by-case review process before the US Department of Transportation grants them authority to operate.