• With the signing of this memorandum, is official the announced made on March 3rd by the presidents from both countries, so the United States of America completely fulfill the commitment established in the NAFTA in matter of on Cross-Border Motor Trucking.
• The agreement was subscribed between the Mexican Secretary of Transport and Communications and the US Department of Transportation.
The Mexican Government signed a Memorandum of Understanding between the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Mexican Secretary of Transport and Communications on Cross-Border Motor Trucking (MOU), after the presidents from both countries reached a solution about this matter last March.
The new agreement required to comply with all Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards and must have electronic monitoring systems to track hours-of-service compliance.
The Mexican companies interested in participating will have the law certitude that was all the requirements are fulfill they could obtain a permanent authorization to operate with the same standards that the American companies.
The new regulation is complementary of the current system for transporting merchandises on the border zones, and allows the circulation of the trucks farther than the trade zone.
The rules consists in a new operating program, initially it will be provide a provisional permit of 18 months. After the 18 months, the company will be evaluated to see if they comply and then they obtain a permanent permit
The new program puts safety first and paves the way for Mexico to lift tariffs it imposed more than two years ago. Pursuant to an agreement signed by the United States Trade Representative and the Secretary of Economy of the United
Mexican States, Mexico will soon lift retaliatory tariffs on more than $2 billion in U.S. manufactured goods and agricultural products.
The agreement also provides that Mexico will suspend 50 percent of the retaliatory tariffs within ten days. Mexico will suspend the remainder of the tariffs within five days of the first Mexican trucking company receiving its U.S. operating authority. As a result, Mexican tariffs that now range from five to 25 percent on an array of U.S. agricultural and industrial products such as apples, certain pork products, and personal care products would be immediately cut in half and will disappear entirely within a few months.
As a result of these meetings, and in consultation with Mexico, trucks will be required to comply with all Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards and must have electronic monitoring systems to track hours-of-service compliance.
In addition, the U.S. Department of Transportation will review the complete driving record of each driver and require all drug testing samples to be analyzed in Department of Health and Human Services-certified laboratories located in the U.S.
The Department will also require drivers to undergo an assessment of their ability to understand the English language and U.S. traffic signs. The new agreement also ensures that Mexico will provide reciprocal authority for U.S. carriers to engage in cross-border long-haul operations into that country.
The two agreements implementing the new cross-border trucking program and the lifting of the tariffs are the Memorandum of Understanding on Cross-Border Motor Trucking and the Agreement on Lifting of Retaliatory Measures build upon the progress announced by Presidents Obama and Calderon in early March.

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