Association of American Railroads (AAR) and Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) officials are supporting the recently operational United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).
“As economies reopen, the certainty provided by the USMCA will prove vital to charting a path back to prosperity,” AAR President and CEO Ian Jefferies said. “The freight rail industry thanks leaders in all three countries for their tireless work to modernize the trade pact and keep North America moving forward. While this hard-fought trade victory is complete, freight railroads continue their work to keep supply chains moving, fuel economic recovery, and execute a vision toward the future thanks in part to the USMCA entering into force.”
The AAR maintains international trade makes up 42 percent of domestic freight railroads’ carloads and intermodal units, adding more than 35 percent of rail revenue is directly associated with international trade. The AAR said 50,000 rail jobs depend directly on international trade.
Meanwhile, the OOIDA said it would continue working with the Administration and Congress on behalf of small-business truckers to ensure cross-border trucking is fair and mutually beneficial.
“The USMCA creates a thorough review process to identify and remove Mexico-based carriers and operators that pose material economic harm to American truckers,” OOIDA President Todd Spencer said. “This means greater scrutiny of entities in cross-border trucking and enforcement of labor provisions. This will hopefully prevent or reduce Mexico-domiciled carriers that are exploiting our laws from operating on U.S. highways, which has significantly lowered wages for American drivers across numerous segments of trucking.”