Byron Dorgan: “this issue of Mexican long-haul trucking into this country is an important issue, and I have offered an amendment that…”

“this issue of Mexican long-haul trucking into this country is an important issue, and I have offered an amendment that is very simple. It is an amendment that is supported by a number of groups: The Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways, Parents Against Tired Truckers, Public Citizen, the National Farmers Union, the Teamsters, the Transportation Trade Department of the AFL-CIO. In a newspaper article this morning, the American Trucking Association, which represents the trucking business, and which, by the way, supported the North American Free Trade Agreement, said today it has ``grave concerns'' about the Mexican trucking pilot project. Here is the story: We passed NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement. I didn't vote for it. It was a horrible trade agreement, and it has demonstrated over the years to be a trade agreement that does not represent our country's interests. We turned a very small trade surplus with Mexico into a huge trade deficit. But aside from that, in the passage of NAFTA, it was to harmonize at some point in the future the ability to do long-haul trucking across Canada, the United States, and Mexico, but it was never anticipated that it would start in circumstances where there were not equivalent standards and/or enforcement with respect to safety.”