Status of Mexican Trucks in the United States: Frequently Asked Questions

John Frittelli
Specialist in Transportation Policy

In the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which took effect in January 1994, the United States and Mexico agreed to allow each other’s trucks to carry goods across the border to make deliveries anywhere inside their respective countries. This provision was controversial in the United States, and a trial program begun in September 2007 by the Bush Administration was defunded by Congress in March 2009. Mexico imposed tariffs on certain U.S. goods in response to the program’s termination, as permitted by NAFTA. After bilateral negotiations, the Obama Administration recently announced a new pilot program to allow long-haul Mexican trucks into the United States.1 

This report answers frequently asked questions regarding the current plan to permit Mexican trucks into the United States. For more detailed information on the background of this program, the customs processes at the border, and the economics of cross-border trucking, see CRS Report RL31738, North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) Implementation: The Future of Commercial Trucking Across the Mexican Border, by John Frittelli.


Date of Report: May 16, 2011
Number of Pages: 9
Order Number: R41821
Price: $19.95

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