NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico - For the first time under the North American Free Trade Agreement, a Mexican truck crossed into the U.S. on Friday bound for the country's interior.
The tractor-trailer hauling a large steel drilling structure crossed the border at Laredo nearly two decades after passage of NAFTA, which was supposed to improve cargo transportation between the two countries.
At a ceremony before the truck set off for a Dallas suburb, the owner of the Transportes Olympic trucking company said he considers his fleet's access to the U.S. interior like being invited to a friend's house.
"We have to be extra orderly and very respectful," Fernando Paez told dignitaries of both countries and a crowd of 300 people. "We will demonstrate that we can operate safely and efficiently."
The driver of the Freightliner truck was Josue Cruz, who waved from the cab, flashed a thumbs-up and thundered toward the bridge over the Rio Grande. He was expected to unload in Garland today or possibly Monday if the business couldn't receive the cargo immediately.
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Trucks have crossed into the interior before but only as part of a short-lived pilot program that began in 2007 with a limited number of vehicles. President Obama's administration canceled it in 2009, and Mexico retaliated by placing tariffs on a wide range of American goods.
Hours before Friday's ceremony in the border city of Nuevo Laredo, Mexico announced it was suspending the tariffs. But the Mexican government warned that they could be reinstated if the U.S. does not honor the accord.
The $2 billion worth of tariffs were imposed on 99 U.S. products, including Christmas trees, onions, oranges, apples, juice concentrates, toothpaste, deodorant, sunglasses, among others. Mexico reduced the tariffs after signing the trucking agreement with the U.S. in July and then removed them completely Friday.
"With this program, we're initiating a new stage of competition, of prosperity, of regional integration," said Bruno Ferrari, Mexican secretary of the economy.
NAFTA, signed in 1994, had called for Mexican trucks to have unrestricted access to highways in border states by 1995 and full access to all U.S. highways by January 2000. Canadian trucks have no limits.
But until now, Mexican trucks have seldom been allowed farther than a buffer zone on the U.S. side of the border, where their cargo was typically transferred to American vehicles.
The public debate surrounding the accord had mostly focused on the safety of Mexican trucks. But labor unions and other groups were strongly opposed to the agreement.
The impact of the program will be limited at first. Only 10 other Mexican trucking companies are going through the certification process right now.