For The Defense, December 2011 - DRI Today
For The Defense, December 2011 - DRI Today
For The Defense, December 2011 - DRI Today
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Trucking Law<br />
Welcome to the<br />
United States<br />
By Jenifer L. Kienle<br />
and William B. Springer<br />
Time will only tell<br />
how many Mexican<br />
companies will have the<br />
resources to participate<br />
and whether those that<br />
do will demonstrate<br />
more than simply being<br />
“fit, willing, and able.”<br />
Mexico as a Partner<br />
Under the <strong>2011</strong><br />
Trucking MOU<br />
On March 3, <strong>2011</strong>, the White House declared the end of<br />
an impasse between Mexico and the United States about<br />
Mexican trucking activities in the United States. After a<br />
meeting between Mexican President Felipe Calderon and<br />
U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington,<br />
D.C., the White House announced that<br />
the United States would lift the decades-<br />
long ban prohibiting Mexican trucking<br />
companies from operating within the<br />
United States on the condition that Mexico<br />
dropped tariffs on $2.4 billion worth of U.S.<br />
pork, cheese, corn, and fruit imports. See<br />
Mark Drajem & Jens Erik Gould, Obama,<br />
Calderon Lift U.S. Ban on Mexican Trucks,<br />
Retaliatory Quotas, Bloomberg (Mar. 3,<br />
<strong>2011</strong>), http://www.bloomberg.com/news/<strong>2011</strong>-<br />
03-03/mexico-u-s-are-said-to-reach-agreementon-end-to-border-trucking-dispute.html.<br />
<strong>The</strong><br />
dispute between the two countries had<br />
been active for over 15 years, waxing and<br />
waning in intensity due to various political<br />
and economic developments but always<br />
present. <strong>The</strong> dispute had been particularly<br />
rankling to Mexico, which felt that the dispute<br />
represented a blatant refusal on the<br />
part of the United States to honor parts<br />
of the North American Free Trade Agreement<br />
(NAFTA), as evidenced by the sever-<br />
ity of the retaliatory tariffs. <strong>The</strong> end of the<br />
impasse, however, may signify the conclusion<br />
of over 15 years of often bitter interactions<br />
with our southern neighbors and<br />
heated political wrangling at home related<br />
to cross- border trucking.<br />
After the announcement in March, a subsequent<br />
agreement became final on July 6,<br />
<strong>2011</strong>, when the Department of Transportation<br />
and the Secretaria de Comunicaciones<br />
y Transportes of the United Mexican States<br />
released a Memorandum of Understanding<br />
(MOU) regarding cross- border trucking<br />
services, which will allow Mexican trucking<br />
companies to engage in cross- border shipping.<br />
While this may not have the appearance<br />
of a momentous development to those<br />
not well versed in the contentious history<br />
leading up to the <strong>2011</strong> MOU, the realization<br />
of relatively unfettered although closely regulated<br />
cross- border trucking between the<br />
United States and Mexico would indeed represent<br />
a significant change in United States-<br />
Mexico border policy.<br />
■ Jenifer L. Kienle is a partner in the Orange County, California, office of Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith, a<br />
national firm with offices in 17 cities. Ms. Kienle defends personal injury and property damage cases related<br />
to transportation and construction and is an OSHA appeal specialist who is active in <strong>DRI</strong>, TIDA, and the<br />
Associated Builders and Contractors. William B. Springer is an associate in Ms. Kienle’s Transportation and<br />
General Liability group and is experienced in litigating complex cases.<br />
<strong>For</strong> <strong>The</strong> <strong>Defense</strong> ■ <strong>December</strong> <strong>2011</strong> ■ 63