President Barack Obama and Mexican President Felipe Calderon on Thursday will announce a plan to open up U.S. highways to Mexican trucks, removing a longstanding roadblock to improved relations between the North American allies.
An Obama administration official said the two leaders have agreed to a phased-in plan that would authorize both Mexican and U.S. long-haul carriers to engage in cross-border operations, provided that the Mexican trucks meet U.S. safety standards. Both countries were given this authority under the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement, but the U.S. has refused to allow Mexican trucks access amid concerns over its ability to meet America’s stringent safety and environmental standards.
Mexico has placed higher tariffs on dozens of U.S. products in response to the unresolved dispute. The official said Mexico will agree to lift those tariffs in phases, with all tariffs lifted once the first Mexican carrier receives authorization to travel on U.S. roads.
Negotiating teams are still working out final details of the plan, and are expected to send an agreement to Congress this spring, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss the plan ahead of Obama’s public statement.
Obama and Calderon were meeting privately Thursday to discuss a wide range of issues before speaking to reporters. The meeting comes three weeks after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Jaime Zapata was shot to death in northern Mexico with a gun smuggled in from the U.S. The incident raised questions in the U.S. about Mexico’s ability to control violence and has Obama administration officials considering arming U.S. agents working across the border to ensure their safety.
“We have to make sure that those kinds of incidents are not repeated and to the extent that that involves the potential arming of them, that’s something I think we have to consider,” Attorney General Eric Holder told a congressional panel this week.
Administration officials said the White House has been working closely with Calderon’s government on how to protect U.S. personnel working in Mexico, but they wouldn’t say whether Obama would press the Mexican leader to allow U.S. agents to be armed.
U.S. and Mexican officials have emphasized that Calderon’s visit was planned before Zapata’s killing.
The contentious debate over immigration dominated Calderon’s visit to the White House in May, shortly after Arizona passed a law that makes it a state crime to be in the U.S. illegally and requires police to question people about their immigration status if there’s reason to suspect they’re illegal. Mexico’s government strongly opposes the law, and the Mexican Senate this week urged Calderon to again vehemently make their opposition known to Obama.
Obama also opposes the Arizona law; the White House said that comprehensive immigration reform remains high on Obama’s agenda and that the president would update Calderon on the state of the immigration debate in the U.S.
Obama and Calderon were also expected to discuss U.S. aid to help support Mexico in the drug war. A senior administration official said the U.S. plans to speed up implementation of the $1.4 billion Merida Initiative, with $900 million to be doled out by the end of the year. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to preview the announcement.
The announcement comes as the State Department issued a report praising Mexico’s government for increased drug seizures and better efforts to combat narcotics trafficking and money laundering. But it said Mexican production of marijuana, heroin and methamphetamines was rapidly rising, and that cartels were becoming even more dangerous through use of sniper rifles, grenades and increasingly military tactics.
Associated Press writers Bradley Klapper in Washington and Mark Stevenson in Mexico City contributed to this report.
Source: The Associated Press.
