Posted on 03/17/2009 5:22:24 PM PDT by autumnraine
President Obama is facing his first trade war after Mexico slapped import tariffs on $2.4 billion in U.S. goods in retaliation for a ban on its trucks from American roads.
Congress ignited the trade skirmish last week by killing a pilot program begun in 2007 that had allowed a few Mexican 18-wheelers to deliver goods across the border.
"Right now, these trade agreements are contracts and if either side breaks that contract, there's repercussions," said Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, the top Republican on the trade subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee.
Economy Secretary Gerardo Ruiz Mateo imposed the tariffs Monday on about 90 U.S. products from 40 states, which will include farm goods such as rice, beef, wheat and beans.
Mateos said the decision violates a provision of the North American Free Trade Agreement among the U.S., Mexico and Canada, enacted 15 years ago amid opposition from U.S. labor unions.
"We consider this U.S. action to be wrong, protectionist and a clear violation of the treaty," Mateos told reporters Monday. "By deciding to protect their trucking industry, they have decided to affect other countries and the region."
When NAFTA was signed in 1994, the U.S. promised to give Mexican trucks full access to the U.S. markets, but 15 years later, Mexico is still waiting.
Democratic Sen. Byron Dorgan of North Dakota killed the program by inserting a provision into the $410 billion spending bill Congress just passed and Obama signed last week. Dorgan cited broader concerns for killing the program.
"There are not equivalent standards and there's no central repository of records so we would know what drivers' records or what accident records are in the country of Mexico," Dorgan told FOX News
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
While I laugh at the Obama administration... I do agree with the Senator that we DON’T know what the driving records of the 18 wheeler’s are. Not to mention what they are hauling with all the drug crap going on. (that’s my injection)
nah, he’ll back down and call the new pact part of his New world order.
This is a planted issue by the 0bama administration to detract from other, more important, issues, and to give him a reason to side with the Mexican Gov’t on this issue.
What is with this administration and breaking contracts? Contracts are the foundation of capitalism.
Obama’s incompetency has no bounds.
My new killer SONY 42 inch Bravia Z series was made in Mexico.
Glad I got it in time.
This agreement of cross border trucking was in the 1994 NAFTA for 15 years we have said no because the Teamsters have certain people in office by their nads. I hope they shut down the border North and South then the great one will be sitting on more made the USA stuff than we know what to do with.
You just answered your own question.
Krauthammer, on FOX, said that this dispute is over 96 (or 98?) trucks. His attitude was, “if you’re going to start a trade war, you should start it over something more significant.” He then went on to call the Obama Administration incompetent.
It doesn’t appear that Zero did this. The pilot program was supposed to be defunded quite a while back but congress continued to fund it despite public anger. The defunding was finally slipped into the stimulus bill.
Zero himself sounds like he wants to keep it going.
They are probably filling jerked around for the last 15 years where we have not up held our end of the NAFTA deal, and this the straw that broke the camels back so to say.
LOL
That’s good information.
It seems as if many have forgotten how upset Freepers and other conservatives were when Gerorge Bush pushed this abomination through after he had to back down on his Shamnesty program.
However the program was stopped we should hope it stays dead.
Mexico won’t do much more than make a few insignficant machismo moves to retaliate because they rely too much on humongous handouts from Uncle Sugar and American taxpayers.
Cool! Lets then tax all outgoing money transfers/wires/money orders...
Let’s shut down ALL imports into the US from Mexico.
Let’s charge an exit tax on vehicles that are being transferred to Mexico.
Hmmm.... how long would the Mexican government stand? Methinks they would surrender unconditionally in less than a month (maybe a week) or would topple in about the same timeframe.
Let'm eat ethanol!
Oh, wait! They already do.
The Mexican driver of the Mexican truck that totally creamed a tour bus full of American & Canadian tourists today was full of the stuff.
Dear Uncle Sam, we will now sell our oil to the Chinese. Best regards, Mexico.
Fools. They should’ve ridden in an American bus. We know that they never, ever get into accidents.
So is this about jobs, or not?
The bus was from a McAllen, Texas, tour company.
The truck driver was the drunk, and swerved into the side of the bus.
The truck driver apparently lost control and swerved into the bus's lane on a highway outside the city of Saltillo,....
You know, like the gun-grabbers like to remind us of school shootings?
The drug cartels were buying up all the trucking companies in anticipation of having free reign to drive the drugs up here hidden amongst the tainted veggies and cheese.
And if Mexican truckers have anything like our Mexican "visitors'" driving habits concerning alcohol, then way too many of them would be driving drunk...rather than on happy-pills & stimulants, like way too many of our own "good buddies" do.
It was also ironic that corn, one of the big exports of the US to Mexico, wasn't mentioned, until you realize that Mexico subsidizes/supports the retail price of corn.
The whole 15 years of acrimony over this has been driven by the arguments that Mexican trucks and drivers are 'unsafe at any speed' on US highways.
I noticed in the article that you linked to has a company called Hutchinson Port Holdings as potentially a major player. I believe that is the same company, said to be Chinese, that has large container ports at both ends of the Panama Canal and also in the Bahamas.
California is doing its part to discourage use of the ports of Long Beach/Los Angeles by imposing severe polution control measures on the trucks that move the containers from the ports and upon the ships themselves.
These requirements will require large expenditures by the truck operators. Many, whom are single truck owner operators, will not have the money to comply and will be forced out of business.
Already many over the road independent truckers refuse loads to California because of the severe emissions restrictions placed on diesel engines there.
Here you see the result of those severe requirements, just move the ports to Mexico which does not have any such requirements.
I have been a part of over a decade of acrimony over this here on FR, and I have yet to see anyone prove that Mexican trucks and drivers are unsafe at any speed.
Specifically, Mexican trucks have been operating inside the 20 mile buffer zone for years. No one opposed to Mexican trucks, whether Teamsters, Public Citizen (the Greens), or any other special interest group has ever been able to establish that those Mexican trucks are involved in more accidents/fail more safety inspections than their American counterparts. And that's for short-haul trucks, that are inherently more prone to mishaps than long-haulers. The Mexican long-haul trucks have been operating since August or September, and the on-road carnage that these groups predicted has yet to come to pass. Eventually, playing on people's fears grows thin.
Your second link explains the situation exactly as it is. I should have read both before I responded. I have years of experience as ship’s crew as well as being a trucking owner operator for a few years. I understand the situation and I am surprised that the article is so clear and thorough.
Ping!
I think there is a disconnect somewhere in the thinking of those that are planning to increasingly flood the U.S. with consumer goods.
The current financial bubble burst is evidence that the U.S. consumer doesn’t have the money to continue the buying frenzy of the past. Millions have either lost their jobs because of outsourcing the jobs to other countries, or had them downgraded with lower wages. The consumer has spent all their savings and then maxed out their credit to the point of bankruptcy. And the loss of jobs is continuing. No jobs mean no pay and no money for buying imported junk !
Couple that with loss of available cash due to higher taxes to pay for Obummer’s socialist programs and the situation becomes more severe.
It looks, to me, like the good ol’ days of getting rich off the U.S. consumer is just about over.
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