President Barack Obama announced today that a deal has been reached in the longstanding dispute over cross-border trucking with Mexico. The announcement was made during a news conference with Mexican President Felipe Calderon.
“After nearly 20 years, we finally have found a clear path to resolving the dispute over trucking between our two countries,” Obama said.
According to reports, both sides are still working out the details of the agreement and are expected to send the plan to Congress this spring.
Congress eliminated funding for a pilot cross-border trucking project in 2009, citing continued concerns about the safety of Mexican trucks. The Mexican government argued that the trucking program ban puts the United States in violation of the North American Free Trade Agreement’s (NAFTA) cross-border trucking commitments and a NAFTA dispute-settlement panel agreed, allowing Mexico to retaliate by placing steep tariffs on U.S. goods, including pork.
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