NAFTA Deal International Trucks Crossing the Border
By: Dylan Brooks
Updated: October 24, 2011
TEXAS -- It's a trip more than fifteen years in the making.
Crowds were cheering as a Mexican tractor trailer crossed the International Bridge at Laredo Texas.
This crossing fulfills a controversial element of the 1994 North American Free Trade Act. By 1995 semi-trucks from Mexico were supposed to be allowed to travel beyond a twenty-five mile commercial zone in the U.S.
Objections by U.S. labor unions and concerns about the safety of the trucks delayed this change. Later fears about Mexico's drug war and a growing immigration problems further hampered efforts.
Now, after meeting strict requirements, which range from drug testing to background checks of drivers. Select Mexican companies will be permitted to travel on U.S. roads
Critics of the deal aren't giving up a bipartisan group of 44 members of Congress are hoping to block Mexican trucks from traveling on U.S. highways.
Crowds were cheering as a Mexican tractor trailer crossed the International Bridge at Laredo Texas.
This crossing fulfills a controversial element of the 1994 North American Free Trade Act. By 1995 semi-trucks from Mexico were supposed to be allowed to travel beyond a twenty-five mile commercial zone in the U.S.
Objections by U.S. labor unions and concerns about the safety of the trucks delayed this change. Later fears about Mexico's drug war and a growing immigration problems further hampered efforts.
Now, after meeting strict requirements, which range from drug testing to background checks of drivers. Select Mexican companies will be permitted to travel on U.S. roads
Critics of the deal aren't giving up a bipartisan group of 44 members of Congress are hoping to block Mexican trucks from traveling on U.S. highways.
