MEXICO

-- Stricter environment standards have put the
brakes on the entry of
Mexican trucks into US soil
under the North American
Free Trade Agreement
(NAFTA). The agreement calling for the free movement of
trucks between US, Canada
and Mexico should have
begun in December 1995.
The US has postponed the
implementation until it becomes satisfied that Mexican
trucks fulfilled US environmental and safety standards.

Truck drivers in Mexico
are paid by the job and to
rake in hicre, they periodically violate many traffic rules.
On the other hand, in US,
truck drivers have to work
only fixed hours a day. This
has led to the Teamsters, the
truck drivers' union in US,
arguing that their jobs could
be taken by the Mexicans.
The US postponement on the
issue has raised a comment
from the Mexican authorities who hoped that the free
trade agreement could overcome the current economic
slump which the country
finds itself in.