Trucking companies join USMCA border discussions

For Derek Leathers, president and CEO of Werner Enterprises, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was an "agreement worth having."

“It certainly moved the ball down the field and brought our three countries closer together and increased the opportunity for trade amongst all of us," Leathers said during an inaugural North American Transportation Forum, which included trade representatives from the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.

In July 2020, however, NAFTA was officially abolished, fulfilling then-President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign pledge to replace the deal. In its place, the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) and the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) were created to reinforce strong economic ties among the countries in North America.

"USMCA clearly takes that to the next level, but it's only as good as our ability to make an iterative, and to have forums by which we can express concerns and talk about things as they arise, because it, too, will become outdated, quicker than we realize,” Leathers advised.

During the Feb. 23 North American Transportation Forum, Leathers joined trade and government representatives, as well as Mark Seymour, CEO of Kriska Transportation Group in Canada, and Ramon Medrano Ibarra, founder of Frio Express in Mexico, to discuss how both agreements plan to prioritize cross-border operations.

Leathers has been in the transportation and logistics industry for 30 years, including 20 years at Werner Enterprises, where he established Werner's Mexico cross-border operations and led the launch of Werner global logistics. He pointed out that it is more than appropriate that all three countries are lauded for how COVID-19 was handled in the North American marketplace, compared to other places around the world.

That said, Leathers added that “it's critically important that we look back now and ask ourselves, ‘Where did we miss?’ I think there were a lot of misses through the pandemic, relative to getting industry for three governments, border procedures, and everybody on the same page."

“I'm not taking a pro or con stance on the COVID-19 vaccine mandates,” Leathers urged. “But the idea that something as integrated and as essential as ground transport couldn't have a coordinated approach to either excluding from the mandates or including in the mandates. I think it is an opportunity for the world to see that we're not as connected, coordinated, and collaborative as we would like to be."

"This forum is a chance for us to go back, autopsy what we did, and find out what we did wrong to develop forward-looking statements around where and how we're going to cooperate more further in the future," Leathers continued. "This is the moment for us to seize this moment, so let's not let it pass. Let's celebrate the advancements of USMCA and CUSMA.”

Cooperation with Canada and Mexico

Kriska Transportation Group, based in Ontario, Canada, crosses the border about 300 times a day, every day, according to CEO Seymour. That means efficiency at the border is critically important to the fleet’s operations.

“I started as a truck driver many years ago and lived through the days of getting everything done, once you got to the border, and it was stressful and slow, and at times very disruptive,” he explained. “What I would consider to be a great example of cooperation is the pre-clearance initiatives that have been deployed in recent years that have allowed so many things to happen ahead of the truck arriving at the border to either leave Canada, or get back to Canada.”

Ambassador Michael Grant, the assistant deputy minister for the Americas and global affairs in Canada, shared his thoughts on the value of North American cooperation.

“This [forum] is a great opportunity to bring together governments, as well as industry, to exchange ideas and really to build transport facilitation and trade,” Grant explained. “I can assure you very much that Canada is committed to working closely with the United States and Mexico to increase cross-border coordination and cooperation within the North American context. As we've all seen, cooperation during COVID-19 has shown the strength of our relationship to deal with such adversity, and encourage us to further explore the advantages of our neighborhood as we move toward a strong economic recovery.”

According to Grant, Canada is committed to hosting the Ministerial Free Trade Commission of CUSMA in the second quarter of 2022. CUSMA also established a transportation services committee to discuss issues about the implementation of commitments related to transportation services. Grant noted that the committee is finalizing the rules of procedures to clarify the structure and functions going forward and how this committee can address trade-related issues arising in the transportation sector.

Luz María de la Mora Sánchez, who serves as undersecretary for foreign trade in Mexico's secretariat of economy, said she believes that both the public and the private sectors are crucial to the development of both the CUSMA and USMCA.

“We know that road transport was hit severely during the pandemic because of lockdowns,” Mora Sánchez said. “There were disruptions in the supply chain, people were sick, and they couldn’t work, so you had no staff to drive the trucks. In order for you to keep those supply chains up and running, you have to adapt."

“The COVID-19 pandemic actually made it clear how important this [forum] is, how collective action and collaborative action is,” Mora Sánchez continued. “Undoubtedly, I will say that we are stronger due to the fact that we had differences in how we tackled the epidemic. When it came to the roads, transportation was a protagonist. It was the main character. We—and all of us—were able to overcome all the hurdles that were on the road.”

Ramon Medrano Ibarra, president of Mexico's National Trucking Chamber (Canacar), founded one of the leading temperature-control Mexican carriers, Frio Express, more than 40 years ago.

“Within the framework of the agreement, we realize that we have to work together,” Ibarra said. “It is of paramount importance to face the historical challenges as well as new challenges, like modernization of the fleet equity and transparent competitiveness, reducing the deficit of the operators, guaranteeing free trade of people's and goods, and reducing the time of inspections of the cross border.”