KEEPING TRACK: TRUCKING.

George W. Bush has declared his intention to abide by a definitive February Nafta-panel ruling to overturn a U.S. law limiting cross-border access for Mexican trucks. The move spells an end to the six-year bilateral dispute.

The 5-0 verdict--and subsequent endorsement by President George W. Bush--comes as a heavy blow to the powerful U.S. Teamsters Union, which had successfully held off the implementation of the measure throughout the administration of former President Bill Clinton.

Part of the "Guanajuato Proposal" reached during the recent visit of President Bush and his team to Mexico Feb. 16 includes discussions for immediate bilateral truck access. Opposition groups in the United States have played up fears over the safety of Mexican trucks, although the driving concern is the threat that Mexican truck access poses to U.S. jobs.

An estimated 14,000 Mexican trucks cross the border everyday into restricted "commercial areas" (no more than 20 miles inside the U.S. border), where they transfer goods to their U.S. counterparts, so a thorough inspection of each and every truck is virtually impossible.

But while the dispute's resolution was hailed by local export manufacturers who say it will put an end to costly delays in transferring goods between trucks, the local trucking industry fears that the subsequent entry of U.S. haulage companies into Mexico will drive them out of business.

"Trucks, gasoline, tires and spare parts are more expensive here; we just can't compete unless we have more affordable financing," Miguel Quintanilla, president of the National Freight Transport Chamber, told local press.