Summary
There will be no decision on the Mexico cross border program until next year - according to the DOT official referenced in the source article. Of bigger concern to Congress are healthcare and highway debates, along with a needed energy policy, being green, et al - and probably followed by other protectionist issues.
Analysis
I got this ones wrong. In April of this year, I wrotecouncils.glgroup.com/news/Analyses.mvc/Details/36766 that the Mexican cross-border program would be addressed before the President’s April trip to Mexico. The Mexican Tariffs on 89 US goods are in place and hurting some of my potato-growing friends, among many others to the tune of $2.4B. The carbon footprint of those empty trucks going south is not good (my environmental lever), plus there is the trust issue to the South (and elsewhere).
Apparently, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood delivered DOT’s proposal of principles for a cross-border replacement program four months ago, so the decision to move on this rests with the White House. In seeing what all else is going on in DC, I now have no expectations of a short-term resolution.
To the bigger picture, one can find a good reference that is put together by Global Trade Alert - a global trade monitoring groupwww.globaltradealert.org/gta-analysis/broken-promises-g20-summit-report-global-trade-alert. They say that the world's 20 major economies have up to 121 "blatantly protectionist" measures today and another 134 coming. Those noted against the US include Obama admin’s $787 billion stimulus bill, auto company bailout restrictions, the Mexican cross-border trucking program, Boeing government contract awards, our Chinese tire ones and numerous smaller issues. China has reportedly the most protectionism.
For some of us who follow history, protectionism increases in poorer economic times for obvious reasons - but have very negative consequences from a global trade perspective (something we really need). It is brought back as a reminder in the Global Trade Alert information about the 1930’s, so hopefully this will be front and center at the G-20 meeting (again not to many expectations).
Then we couple all this with our colleague John Schultz’s and William Downey’s just published articles on the pulling back of State road funds - and jobs! It’s priorities versus politics.I agree Washington DC can't multitask well - but they do know how to multi-tax.
Apparently, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood delivered DOT’s proposal of principles for a cross-border replacement program four months ago, so the decision to move on this rests with the White House. In seeing what all else is going on in DC, I now have no expectations of a short-term resolution.
To the bigger picture, one can find a good reference that is put together by Global Trade Alert - a global trade monitoring groupwww.globaltradealert.org/gta-analysis/broken-promises-g20-summit-report-global-trade-alert. They say that the world's 20 major economies have up to 121 "blatantly protectionist" measures today and another 134 coming. Those noted against the US include Obama admin’s $787 billion stimulus bill, auto company bailout restrictions, the Mexican cross-border trucking program, Boeing government contract awards, our Chinese tire ones and numerous smaller issues. China has reportedly the most protectionism.
For some of us who follow history, protectionism increases in poorer economic times for obvious reasons - but have very negative consequences from a global trade perspective (something we really need). It is brought back as a reminder in the Global Trade Alert information about the 1930’s, so hopefully this will be front and center at the G-20 meeting (again not to many expectations).
Then we couple all this with our colleague John Schultz’s and William Downey’s just published articles on the pulling back of State road funds - and jobs! It’s priorities versus politics.I agree Washington DC can't multitask well - but they do know how to multi-tax.
Jay Thompson consults with leading institutions through GLG
Analyses are solely the work of the authors and have not been edited or endorsed by GLG.
