The FMCSA just announced that they are accepting Mexican inspection standards. The Mexican standards have been recently published by their Secretary of Communication and Transportation (Secretaría de Comunicaciones y Transportes) and are reportedly sufficiently close to our own so that FMCSA felt comfortable allowing Mexican annual inspections for trucks that are stationed there.
I cannot help but wonder if this will begin a new trend of Mexican trucks coming across the border not for border-crossing freight, but for strictly domestic (domestic U.S.) freight business. And/or if the big boys in the freight world will start hiring and paying Mexican workers (truck drivers) while paying substandard wages (based on American norms). Is this a creeping policy? Does this portend things to come? Or is this just an acknowledgement of what is already a level playing field by corresponding workers of the same industry but from different countries? Keep in mind, NAFTA already guarantees access.
Thanks for reading.