John Gallagher | Apr 08, 2009 10:11AM EDT
An ad hoc coalition of 140 manufacturing, food and agricultural organizations sent a letter to President Obama urging him to quickly resolve the cross-border trucking dispute with Mexico.
The Mexican government placed retaliatory tariffs on U.S. manufactured and agricultural exports March 19 in response to the canceling of the cross-border pilot program, which allowed U.S. and Mexican trucks direct access to destinations within each country. Trade between the two countries currently must be transferred at the border to trucks licensed to operate within the respective countries for final delivery.
Over $1.5 billion in U.S. manufactured products and $900 million in U.S. agriculture products are affected by the tariffs, the coalition said in its letter, and puts over 12,000 agricultural and 14,000 manufacturing jobs in the U.S. at risk.
“We need to get this trucking issue resolved, because, although U.S. pork products were not included on the retaliation list, they could be in the future, and, more importantly, our trading partners need assurance that the United States will live up its trade obligations” said Don Butler, president of the National Pork Producers Council.
