Trade agreements should benefit all parties. Favoritism to one or another party is not a good or fair agreement. Regulatory favoritism is unfair at the onset.
Don’t look now but Mexican trucks are running our roads. Despite years of opposition from the American people and repeated negative votes by Congress, the current administration has proceeded full steam ahead with this initiative. The first Mexican trucks began crossing the border into Texas in October.
The idea of allowing Mexican trucks unrestricted access to American highways, without the regulatory requirements that apply to domestic haulers, was originally conceived by the Clinton administration as part of the NAFTA trade agreement with Mexico. After the Clinton and Bush administrations failed to convince Americans and the Congress to move ahead on this matter, the present White House avoided the democratic approach altogether. Instead, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood quietly traveled to Mexico City last July 6 and signed, without approval by Congress, an agreement with Mexico allowing its trucks unfettered U.S. access. The agreement makes no mention that Mexican trucks should be subject to the same standards imposed on American trucks.
A federal agency, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, immediately granted “Permanent Operating Authority,” meaning these trucks will not have to be inspected each time they cross into the United States. Further, Mexican trucks will be given, courtesy of U.S. taxpayers, electronic onboard recorders with global positioning. U.S. truckers must install this equipment also, but at their own expense. American taxpayers must also pay for replacing old mufflers on Mexican trucks, while American truckers must buy their own.
Larger domestic trucking firms may be able to absorb the costs of some of the new regulations, but independent domestic truckers will be hard hit by new requirements. Jobs will be lost if the independents cannot afford to buy new rigs that comply.
The signed agreement requires the United States to accept Mexican commercial driver licenses even though Mexico has no valid system of driver licensing, drug testing, training, brake standards or safety inspection. The chatter in Washington is all about U.S. joblessness, environmental challenges, fuel efficiency, air quality and green jobs. These issues seem to carry no importance where this Mexican truck issue is concerned. Federal spending and debt don’t seem to matter here either.
The Mexican agreement promises to allow U.S. trucks to drive in Mexico. American truckers cannot reasonably take advantage of this reciprocity since they would be targets for the drug cartels in northern Mexico. The U.S. government is advising Americans not to travel across that border.
At a Senate hearing, former Transportation Secretary Mary Peters acknowledged that U.S. officials routinely checked “proficient in English” for Mexican drivers who could only answer questions and identify road signs in Spanish.
While trade with our neighbors in North America is important to our economy, bypassing Congress and failing to achieve the consent of the governed is an unwelcome pattern of operation. The way this issue has been handled is a symptom of powerful centralized government acting outside the Constitution.
Too much power in the hands of Washington officials usurps individual liberty. Our forefathers developed a Constitution to strictly limit the powers of centralized government and guarantee liberty. Throughout America’s history, our greatest leaders cautioned that without vigilance, liberty can be lost.
Kentuckian Henry Clay, one of America’s most distinguished statesmen, explained in 1829 the proper order between the people and the government: “Government is a trust, and the officers of the government are trustees; and both the trust and the trustees are created for the benefit of the people.” Sometimes, modern public officials get this axiom backwards.
As Americans, we should be paying attention to what our elected officials do and not what they say. Our nation needs our attention as it indulges in a government spending orgy and incurs unsustainable debt. Government by executive fiat is not democratic.