Mexico today announced that it would enact retaliatory tariffs on nearly 90 US industrial and agricultural products after the US abruptly cancelled a program that allowed some Mexican trucks to operate across the US border. Mexico contends that in addition to just being unfair and unnecessary, the nullification of the program violated a section of the North American Free Trade Agreement that was supposed to have opened cross-border trucking years ago. Gerardo Ruiz Mateos, Mexico’s economy minister, said ”We consider that this action of the United States is mistaken, protectionist and clearly in violation of the (NAFTA) treaty.”
“I deeply regret the action taken by the Mexican government and the harm it may cause to American businesses,” Senator John McCain said in a statement. “Unfortunately, this is a predictable reaction by the Mexican government to a policy that now puts the United States in clear violation of the North American Free Trade Agreement and was inappropriately inserted into the Omnibus appropriations bill. We must take steps to prevent escalation of further protectionist measures — actions that only serve to harm American business during these tough economic times.”
Hopefully, the US can find a way to work this out. The program itself wasn’t even that widely used. However, it was gaining popularity. NAFTA remains one of the great assets to our country and its importance is only growing. I’m not sure most lawmakers understand just what a vital program this is to US trade.
