WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US House of Representatives has overwhelmingly voted to kill a government proposal designed to settle a long-running dispute with Mexico over free access of its trucks to the United States.
The 339-70 vote, which came Wednesday over the threat of a presidential veto, reflected a new and growing anti-free trade sentiment among US lawmakers, who are increasingly concerned about the loss of US jobs to foreign competition -- and signaled new problems for the 11-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
The approved amendment to a spending bill that funds the Department of Transportation bars the agency from exempting foreign trucks and buses that enter the United States from Canada or Mexico from stringent US environmental and safety regulations.
The targeted two-year exemption was aimed primarily to address complaints by Mexico, which has repeatedly accused the United Stated of discriminating against its trucking industry and violating NAFTA rules providing for free circulation of goods and services.
"It's a protectionism amendment," shouted Republican Representative Jim Kolbe, whose southern Arizona district is heavily dependent on trade with Mexico.
But other speakers said that most Mexican trucks entering the country would not meet US safety standard and present an additional hazard to drivers on US highways.
Moreover, said supporters of the amendment, the government's plan to offer preferential treatment to Mexicans unfairly penalizes US motor carriers.
"When we have standardization for cars, why would we create this huge loophole for trucks which weigh thousands of pounds more and are much more dangerous than cars?" asked Democratic congressman John Olver, the main sponsor of the amendment.
The US-Mexican trucking dispute has been dragging on since 2000, when under NAFTA rules Mexican trucking companies should have received free access to US highways beyond the immediate border area.
But under pressure from labor unions, the US administration of former president Bill Clinton postponed honoring that commitment.
The administration of President George W. Bush, who has strong ties to the business community and a cordial personal relationship with Mexican President Vicente Fox, worked out a complicated compromise, including the two-year safety exemption, designed to gradually allow Mexican shippers to drive all across the country.
But it ran against the powerful Teamsters union dead set on scuttling the deal because it sees it as a threat to its members.
Mexican trucks make about 4.5 million trips across the US border every year, according to trade officials, providing powerful competition for US trucking interests.
"President Bush can menacingly wave his veto pen all he wants, but the Teamsters will not let up in our fight to protect Americas families from unsafe foreign trucks," Teamsters General President James Hoffa said in a statement after the House vote.
The Senate has yet to act on the proposal, but the margin of victory for opponents of the trucking deal in the House vote suggests they have enough muscle to override a White House veto.
The bipartisan vote, according to congressional officials, reflected a new and more skeptical attitude toward free trade setting in in a country just emerging from a painful recession.
Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry has already promised to review all US free trade agreements, including NAFTA, if he wins the White House on November 2.