Trucking Groups Urge NAFTA Negotiators to Support Trade
ORLANDO – Three of North America’s largest trucking associations – American Trucking Associations, the Canadian Trucking Alliance, and Mexico’s CANACAR – have come to the defense of the North American Free Trade Agreement, which they see as a business driver.
In a joint statement released during ATA’s annual Management Conference & Exhibition this week, the groups urged negotiators to “update the trade agreement in a manner that continues to benefit trade.”
Motor carriers haul the vast majority of trade by value across international borders, supporting the supply chain for everything from cars to agriculture and pharmaceuticals, the statement notes.
“Trucking and trade are synonymous,” said Bob Costello, the ATA’s chief economist, during a session at the meeting. Every year, 46,000 U.S. trucking jobs can be linked to trade with the Canada and Mexico, he said.
NAFTA negotiations have been extended into 2018 after hitting an impasse on several issues such as the process used to resolve disputes, and a U.S. proposal to include a sunset clause that would require the agreement to be renewed every five years.
The trade agreement has had an undeniable impact on the trucking industry, with trucks moving 71% of the value of surface trade across the Canada-U.S. border and 82% of the value across the U.S.-Mexico border.
“NAFTA truck-transported trade supports tens of thousands of trucking industry jobs across the continent and generates billions in revenue annually,” notes the joint statement. “Trucking jobs created from North American trade are good-paying jobs, from our professional commercial drivers, to dispatchers, sales personnel, managers, and many others,” it reads. “In fact, our industry demonstrates how trade creates good, solid long-term jobs across the continent. The ripple effects are significant, too. In order to haul all the trade across our borders, our industries have to buy a significant amount of goods and services, …Read the rest of this story
