OOIDA calls on U.S. Trade Representative to address cross-border trucking in USMCA

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association urges the U.S. Trade Representative to continue moving forward with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement approval process and forthcoming implementing legislative language in a timely manner.

The U.S., Mexico, and Canada signed a trilateral pact nearly six months ago that included annex language establishing a regulatory process to restrict Mexican trucks to the commercial border zones. The deal also addresses cabotage and states “only persons of the U.S., using U.S.-registered and either U.S.-built or duty-paid trucks or buses, may provide truck or bus services between points within the U.S.”

“OOIDA believes these provisions will help end the current program that allows Mexican carriers and drivers who are not held to the same, rigorous U.S. safety, security, or environmental regulations to operate on American roadways,” OOIDA President Todd Spencer said in a news release issued Monday.

For decades, OOIDA has opposed the original NAFTA provisions that established today’s cross-border Mexican trucking regulations, which the Association believes harm American small-business truckers and jeopardize highway safety.

The Association said the USMCA deal provides a chance to amend those rules and end the nonreciprocal system in place.

“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,” Spencer said.

OOIDA says the tri-lateral USMCA is the best opportunity to stop unregulated Mexican drivers and trucks from continuing to transport freight on our nation’s roads. OOIDA will continue working with the administration and Congress to ensure the cross-border trucking annex language remains in any final agreement.

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association is the largest national trade association representing the interests of small-business trucking professionals and professional truck drivers. The Association has more than 160,000 members nationwide. OOIDA was established in 1973 and is headquartered in the greater Kansas City, Mo. area.