Obama's First Trade War: The US-Mexico Cross-Border Trucking Dispute and the Implications of Strategic Cross-Sector Retaliation on U.S. Compliance Under NAFTA

摘要

In March 2009, President Barack Obama signed legislation suspending a pilot program that allowed a limited number of Mexican trucking firms to operate within designated areas on U.S. soil. President George W. Bush enacted the program during the last year of his presidency in preparation for a larger, more inclusive US-Mexican cross-border trucking program. With trucks carrying 90 percent of the goods traded between the United States and Mexico, the border-opening program was viewed by proponents of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) as an important step in liberalizing trade and improving relations with Mexico. Opponents of NAFTA, however, have been critical of the program on the basis that Mexican trucks and their drivers endanger motorists, threaten national security, destroy the environment and contribute to the loss of thousands of American jobs.