Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2010 – It’s time for the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to “begin defending American jobs.”

That was the clear message sent in a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk from Jim Johnston, president and CEO of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association.

“On behalf of our nation’s small business trucking professionals and professional truck drivers, I respectfully call upon you to begin defending American jobs by challenging the tariffs that Mexico has wrongfully imposed on U.S. exports in relation to the cross-border trucking dispute,” Johnston wrote in his letter to Kirk on Feb. 24.

Johnston challenged the lack of action from the U.S. Trade Representative’s office on the tariffs imposed by Mexico on U.S. goods in retaliation for the shutdown of the long-haul, cross-border trucking program.

“It is irresponsible for you to stand back as those tariffs continue to jeopardize U.S.-based businesses and American jobs,” Johnston pointed out.

Kirk told U.S. lawmakers this past year that the quickest way to end the tariffs was to launch another cross-border trucking program with Mexico.

“That statement and others that you have made recently to the media seem to ignore the immense safety and security implications of providing Mexico-domiciled trucking companies and truck drivers with unfettered access to U.S. highways,” Johnston wrote.

Johnston detailed the concerns of U.S. truck drivers in opening the border to long-haul operations from Mexico. Those concerns include highway safety, border violence, the out-of-control drug cartels and drug trafficking.

He also reminded Kirk of the mountains of regulations that face U.S. truck drivers every day – something that does not exist in Mexico. The regulatory realm that U.S. truckers face every day contributes heavily to the cost of simply being in business.

“As you stated last year after a NAFTA arbitration panel ruling, ‘… neither the NAFTA nor other U.S. investment agreements prevent the federal government or our states from regulating in the public interest, including to protect the environment, public health, and safety.’ I could not agree more,” Johnston wrote to Kirk.

“If a new cross-border trucking program were implemented at this time, U.S. truckers would be forced to forfeit their own economic opportunities while inadequately compensated Mexican truckers, free from equivalent regulatory burdens, take over their traffic lanes.”

To read Johnston’s complete letter, click here. To read related coverage on the cross-border program, click here.

– By Jami Jones, senior editor
jami_jones@landlinemag.com