The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) has publicly pressed the office of the U.S. Trade Representative to continue the approval process of the new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.
While the United States, Mexico, and Canada signed a trilateral pact to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) nearly six months ago, it has not been ratified. OOIDA stresses that it would create a regulatory process to restrict Mexican trucks to commercial border zones and make it so only people from the United States, using U.S.-registered and either U.S.-built or duty-paid trucks or buses, may provide truck or bus services between various points in-country.
“Our members have suffered economically from Mexican trucking companies taking away jobs and profits from American drivers and motor carriers. At the same time, Mexican trucks are endangering the motoring public as U.S. DOT’s own safety statistics show that the crash rate for Mexican-domiciled carriers is 2.8 times higher than U.S. carriers,” OOIDA President Todd Spencer said.
The OOIDA had been opposed to provisions under the original NAFTA that they say hurt small-business truckers and highway safety. It is their belief that the USMCA deal will dramatically change that system in a way more favorable to U.S. drivers.