The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments today on whether an environmental impact study is needed before Mexican truckers could be granted full access to U.S. highways.
Cross-border trucking was a key component of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Mexican truckers would gain the same access already accorded to Canadian fleets and would have to comply with all applicable U.S. trucking regulations. U.S. carriers also are supposed to gain access to Mexico.
The oral arguments come as a result of a Bush Administration request to review a lower court's ruling in favor of a coalition of environmental activists and organized labor that has spent years trying to fight NAFTA and bar Mexican trucking companies from the U.S. market.
The Supreme Court is expected to publish its ruling sometime in June.