Safe Highways a Trade Barrier?

 
According to a recent article in the Financial Times (www.ft.com), of the 35,000 Mexican commercial trucks inspected at the US border in 1999, 40% were forced out of service for serious violations of safety rules. Despite those numbers, a dispute settlement panel set up under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has ruled that the US must open its borders freely to Mexican commercial traffic. The US made that commitment in the NAFTA negotiations but has refused since 1995 to adhere to the agreement. If it still refuses after the panel decision, Mexico has warned that it will impose punitive trade sanctions.

Despite the fact that the new Mexican president, Vicente Fox, and US President Elect George W. Bush agree on enforcing the free transit of cargo vehicles under NAFTA, this could be a thorny issue for their administrations. The US Congress has not been very happy about the prospect of having large numbers of Mexican trucks and buses on US highways. The Teamsters Union of the United States, insurance companies and other lobbyists have clashed with business and trade groups over this question for several years. More important, however, the issue could further complicate the fast-track debates and the US position at the Summit of the Americas meeting in Quebec in April 2001.

The ruling promises to reinvigorate NAFTA's critics in the US, who have long charged that the trade pact will force the US to weaken its domestic regulations to serve the demands of freer commerce. Lori Wallach, of the consumer activist group Public Citizen, calls the case "one of the most dramatic examples of how so-called trade agreements such as NAFTA reach far beyond appropriate commercial issues." She claims that a backlash against NAFTA and the World Trade Organization is growing because of public fears that the trade rules will "dictate domestic safety, health and other policies that dramatically affect people's lives."

The controversy comes at a time of unprecedented progress in linking labor and environmental questions with trade. This trend is demonstrated in trade agreements with Jordan and Cambodia that have been sent to Congress for ratification. Chilean President Ricardo Lagos and the Clinton administration also made the surprising announcement that the two countries will negotiate a free trade agreement that will include environmental and labor language. In contrast to Jordan and Cambodia, however, Chile has refused to consider including any reference to sanctions for noncompliance.

Without any teeth, the Chilean treaty will not get the support of the labor movement. Already, worker rights groups allied with the US labor movement, such as the Alliance for Responsible Trade, have announced that they will be studying this development. The trade issue is heating up even before the new Congress convenes and the new president takes office.