Mexico to cut duties on U.S. after trucking deal

Mexico will cut in half retaliatory duties on more than $2 billion of U.S. farm and industrial goods this week after signing a deal with Washington on Wednesday to allow Mexican truckers onto American roads.

The action signals the end of a 16-year-old cross-border dispute in coming months, unless the U.S. Congress intervenes again to keep Mexican trucks off U.S. roads.The United States agreed under the North American Free Trade Agreement, which went into force in 1994, to allow Mexican long-haul truckers to operate in the United States.

However, opponents in Congress have thrown up repeated roadblocks to keep Mexican truckers off U.S. roads.

U.S. lawmakers voted in 2009 to defund a pilot program created by the administration of former President George W. Bush, prompting Mexico to retaliate.

The deals signed on Friday follow an agreement in principle announced by U.S. President Barack Obama and Mexican President Felipe Calderon in early March.

Mexican officials said they would cut duties on 99 U.S. products such as pork, apples and consumer care products in half on Friday and remove the rest when the first Mexican trucker crosses into the United States.