Politics

Bush, House In Mexico Truck Tussle

June 27, 2001 / 11:51 AM EDT / CBS

President Bush is disappointed in a House vote to prohibit Mexican trucks from greater access to U.S. roads and will seek to reverse it, the White House said Wednesday.

The House approved a measure late Tuesday to force Mexican trucks to first meet American safety standards before they are allowed more access to American highways.

Passage of the amendment, sought by Democrats, was unexpected and unless reversed will confound Bush administration plans to open U.S. highways to Mexican trucks next January under the terms of the North American Free Trade Agreement, known as NAFTA.

The Senate has yet to vote on the issue.

"The president thinks the action is wrong and is going to work to reverse it," said White House spokesman Ari

Mexican trucks are now confined to narrow commercial zones in border states where they transfer their goods to U.S. haulers.

Fleischer predicted more success in the Senate and in negotiations between the two chambers on a compromise bill.

The vote was a blow to a president and former Texas governor who has long pushed for closer commercial ties to Mexico and who is a staunch advocate of freer trade. And it came on the very day that Mexican President Vicente Fox told executives and directors of The Associated Press that the slumping U.S. economy was hurting Mexico's hopes for prosperity. He also spoke of the close, cooperative relationship he has with Mr. Bush.

"The president believes we can have safe transportation of Mexican trucks" within the United States, Fleischer said.

Making Mr. Bush's defeat even more stinging was that 82 Republicans joined 201 Democrats and two independents in voting to restrict the Mexican trucks.

The amendment was proposed by Rep. Martin Sabo, D-Minn., after the House voted 219-205 against his offer of a milder provision that would have required Mexican trucking companies and their vehicles to be inspected before the trucks enter the United States.

Mr. Bush has proposed permitting Mexican companies that say they comply with U.S. safety standards to operate here for 18 months while their claims are verified.

"This was a strong message to the administration that the public and Congress feel very strong about the safety issues involved," Sabo said.

Even so, he predicted the provision "will be modified" before Congress completes it, perhaps requiring the inspections he initially favored.

House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, agreed, saying of the vote: "I don't think that that's a big deal."

He attributed the vote — in which 38 percent of Republicans supported Sabo — to pressure from labor. "A lot of people were probably feeling they could be friendly to the Teamsters," he said.

The union, which endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore last year, has 1.4 million members, including 120,000 in the freight industry.

The issue pitted the Teamsters and some traffic safety groups against the American Trucking Association, reprsenting trucking companies, and the businesses that ship goods with them.

Under NAFTA, Mexican trucks were to have full access to U.S. roads by January 2000. Citing safety concerns and feeling pressure from organized labor, the Clinton administration blocked that from happening. But a NAFTA arbitration panel ruled in February that the United States was violating the treaty. Mr. Bush had pledged to honor the free-trade agreement.