WASHINGTON Mexican truckers will be able to carry goods deep into the United States, and vice versa, under the terms of a deal signed Wednesday in Mexico City to end a 17-year-old trade dispute. As part of the deal, Mexico will eliminate tariffs on a wide range of American goods and agricultural products as soon as the first Mexican truck is allowed to enter the United States, a process that will require approvals and permits. As a preliminary step, those tariffs will be reduced by 50 percent by the end of this week.
The United States had refused since 1994 to honor a condition of the North American Free Trade Agreement allowing trucks to carry cargo across the border to a final destination, instead prohibiting Mexican trucks from traveling further than 25 miles into the country. After more than a decade of waiting and negotiating, Mexico retaliated by imposing tariffs in 2009.
In March, President Obama and his Mexican counterpart, Felipe Calderon, reached a preliminary agreement on a compromise. The deal, signed by the secretaries of transportation from the two countries, grants truckers free range for a trial period of three years.
Business groups and farmers, who have pressed for the United States to resolve the issue, hailed Wednesdays news as a spur to the economy. But groups representing truckers in the United States said that the deal puts their jobs at risk and that safety concerns had not been adequately addressed.
They also complained that the White House had sought to limit attention to the agreement, making no public announcement about the signing and agreeing to hold it in a foreign country.