Mexican Trucking Blues

The Supreme Court decided yesterday to relieve the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration from the responsibility of doing an environmental impact statement and Clean Air Act conformity declaration on its promulgation of regulations that will once again allow Mexican truckers, barred from these shores since 1982 by act of Congress, to start doing long-haul trucking into these United States. (If you need to know more, examine Clarence Thomas' decision for the unanimous court in Department of Transportation v. Public Citizen here.)

I did a radio show on the topic defending more open international trade in the context of this case against representatives from the Natural Resources Defense Council and the California Trucking Association today on KPCC-FM in Los Angeles. I'm delighted to report that public opposition to increased openness in international trade is still largely based on "protect my job at all costs to everyone else" (the truckers) or "free trade is great, as long as all our trading partners face the exact same regulatory strictures and use all the same equipment, methods, and techniques as we do." All in all a nice status quo strategy that guarantees we'll keep the world's less-well-off out of the loop of international commerce that can help make them rich.