William B. Cassidy | Sep 06, 2011 10:34AM EDT
The Teamsters union filed a lawsuit last week in an attempt to block the Obama administration’s plans for a cross-border trucking pilot project with Mexico.
The Department of Transportation is expected to allow the first Mexican carriers to join the three-year pilot project to roll into the U.S. early this month.
The Teamsters and Public Citizen filed the lawsuit against the DOT and its Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration in the U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco.
The union and consumer advocacy group have long opposed granting Mexican truckers greater access to the U.S. beyond the border commercial zone.
Although the union and its allies have challenged the safety record of Mexican truckers, they increasingly argue cross-border trucking would cost the U.S. jobs.
The White House and Mexico signed an agreement in July establishing the new cross-border trucking program and eliminating $2.4 billion in punitive tariffs.
Mexico slapped the tariffs on a range of U.S. goods after Congress and the Obama administration killed a Bush-era cross-border trucking program in 2009.
The FMCSA expects a limited number of carriers will apply for the program. Only 29 carriers with a total of 100 vehicles enrolled in the Bush-era program.
The program would offer Mexican carriers a route to U.S. operating authority similar to that held by many Canadian truckers that operate in the U.S.
Mexican truckers that eventually receive U.S. operating authority would still be barred from transporting domestic freight within the U.S.
Contact William B. Cassidy at wcassidy@joc.com. Follow him on Twitter at @wbcassidy_joc