Editorial: Mexican Sanctions Get Down to Business

(Dallas Morning News)

Rare are the times when Mexico holds the upper hand in any dispute with the United States. Even rarer is Mexico’s ability to bend Congress to its will. The clash over treaty rights and Mexican truckers’ access to U.S. highways could be one of those rarities.

Earlier this year, Mexico announced retaliatory tariffs on 90 items U.S. manufacturers export south of the border – 85 of which are produced in Texas. The $2.4 billion sanction followed years of U.S. failure to enact provisions of the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement giving approved Mexican freight trucks access to U.S. highways.

Because NAFTA is a treaty, the United States is legally bound by its provisions. Mexico is fully within its right to retaliate for the U.S. failure to abide by NAFTA, and considering how long this trucking issue has gone unresolved, the Mexican response has been patient and measured.

Congress is stalling under pressure from American truckers’ unions, who fear being put at a competitive disadvantage. Read more here.