Source:  Lisa M. Keefe, MEATINGPLACE.COM, 3/3/11

Mexican trucks may soon be rolling along U.S. highways and Mexico will suspend its retaliatory tariffs on American products, including pork, now that the U.S. and Mexican governments have reached a tentative deal resolving a 20-year-long dispute over access to American roads.

In a news conference Thursday with Mexican president Felipe Calderon, President Obama said the two countries had "found a clear path to resolving" the long-standing roadblock in relations, according to media reports of the conference.

Under the agreement, Mexican trucks will have to meet U.S. safety standards and the U.S. would begin a phased program allowing Mexican trucks operate in the United States.

Mexico will suspend its retaliatory tariffs on American products, which include pork. Half the tariffs will be lifted immediately, and the remainder once the first Mexican truck is allowed to enter the U.S., according to BusinessWeek.

Obama said the plan now goes to Congress, the BBC reported.

U.S. and Mexican trucks were previously free to cross their shared border under the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement. In recent years, however, the U.S. has refused to allow Mexican trucks access amid concerns over their ability to meet U.S. safety and environmental standards. Mexico’s government, in turn, imposed tariffs on U.S. goods beginning in 2009 after the U.S. suspended a pilot program that had allowed some Mexican trucks into the U.S.

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