Bush envoy: Opening border to trucking good for trade

By James Paton, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Javier Manzano / The Rocky

Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters speaks at a news conference in the main courtyard of the Maverick Ranch Natural Meats facility in north Denver.

A Bush administration official visited Colorado Tuesday to defend a program that opens up the U.S. and Mexican markets to truckers.

Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters, addressing reporters at Maverick Ranch Natural Meats in Denver, said putting the brakes on the initiative would hurt the economy.

The pilot program has drawn criticism in Congress, which has voted to stop funding the effort, and has angered unions, including the local Teamsters. Opponents have cited an array of safety, security, environmental and economic concerns.

But Peters, who followed Maverick Ranch President Rex Moore on a tour of the meat facility before holding a news conference outside, said it's "no time for the politics of pessimism."

Without the ability to travel freely in Mexico, "every slab of beef and every sack of potatoes has to come to a complete stop," she said. "Those delays cost money and put businesses like those in Colorado at a disadvantage."

Peters has described the program as a "long-delayed implementation" of North American Free Trade Agreement provisions. Since 1982, Mexican trucks have been restricted to a 25-mile zone near the U.S. border and forced to transfer goods to American trucks. U.S. truckers have faced similar restrictions.

Colorado's exports to Mexico - the second biggest market - decreased about 7 percent to $949.9 million last year. While a weaker dollar made U.S. exports more attractive, the value of Colorado exports overall dipped 7.6 percent in 2007, mainly because of a decline in semiconductor sales.

Maverick Ranch doesn't ship its products to Mexico. But Peters said her visit "underscored the role exports play in Colorado's economy."

The transportation department said that 46 trucks from six U.S. companies have the green light to participate in the program. Peters added that every Mexican truck would have to meet every U.S. safety standard.

Ted Textor doesn't buy it.

The political director of the Teamsters Local Union 455, concerned primarily about safety, called the pilot program "reckless" and said that Peters "is thumbing her nose at Congress."

"We want her fired," he added.

patonj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-2544

• March 26, 2008

  7:44 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  BikerChick writes:

  ..
  Mary Peters is a loyal team player. Her speech in the Denver area was staged for political reasons. The reporter made it clear that the Maverick Ranch meat-packing company does NOT export their products to Mexico. This is a classic dog-and-pony-show.

  Ms. Peters' boss wants open-borders between the USA and a third-world nation. The Chamber of Commerce agrees, as does La Raza and the DRMN.

  The "side-benefits" are of major concern. While the USA cannot survive as an 'isolationist' nation, the current situation is intolerable. The expensive ‘fringe-benefits’ that U S taxpayers are paying to host more than 30 million illegal immigrants cannot be continued – WE can’t afford the cost – especially the pain of more than 20 million U S workers displaced by the illegal visitors. There are high-priority things that must be done immediately.

  This is about Law-and-Order, not open trade. Until our ports-of-entry are placed under positive control, our borders enforced, the 750,000 illegal immigrant absconders arrested, and the two million illegal immigrants now in the USA with active 'wants-and-warrants' are interdicted, it is insane to advocate for open trade with a third-world nation.

  The U S Congress has refused to stand up for enforcement of our existing laws while they danced to the tune of the U S Chamber of Commerce – all the time ignoring the pleas of the majority of their electorate – STOP the criminal employer behaviors by enforcing our laws. Mary Peters works for the Executive Branch - all in lock-step with the businesses that break our laws to entice and employ foreign nationals who are here unlawfully, and employed unlawfully.

  When our leaders agree to enforce our laws, and accomplish that little job - we can consider the options that Ms. Peters suggests. Not until.
  ..

• March 26, 2008

  8:47 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  TeamsterPower writes:

  Mary Peters' illegal pilot program is more than a snub. It is in direct violation of the law. The Senate voted 75-23 and the House voted 411-3 to block funding for this program in 2008. But Peters continues the program. She is blatantly breaking the law and should be fired. See www.firemarypeters.com for more information.

  And despite how much she wants to play down the safety concerns in the program, they are real. One of the Mexican trucking companies approved to drive on US Highways had a record of 1,123 safety violations in the year before the border was opened, or 112 violations per vehicle. Would you want one of those vehicles driving next to you at 70 miles per hour?

  Congress doesn't want this program, the majority of Americans don't want this program and the Mexican trucking industry doesn't want this program. So who does? U.S. companies that have moved manufacturing facilities to Mexico, and large U.S. trucking firms who want to boost their profits by paying third world wages.

  Before NAFTA we had a $1.5 billion trade surplus. Today, we have a $75 billion deficit. And Mary Peters, the Bush administration and its Big Corporate sponsors want to make that deficit even bigger.

• March 26, 2008

  12:54 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  kevinjjones writes:

  Wouldn't forbidding easy-pass trucking be a better counter against hypothetical nuclear terrorism instead of, say, practicing torture or attacking Iran?

  The next time the government tries to scare us about terrorist threats, we can look at our open borders as a measure of how serious the government considers the danger.