The long-running dispute between the U.S. and Mexico over a pilot trucking program that allowed a limited number of Mexican trucks full access to American roadways took another unexpected turn this week after Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) inserted language into an appropriations bill that would compel the White House to resolve the trade dispute.

The North American Free Trade Agreement was supposed to allow Mexican trucks full access to U.S. roadways by 1995. However, opposition led by safety advocates and organized labor managed to keep the borders closed to Mexican trucks, more-or-less.

Feeling pressure from the Mexican government to come into compliance with the trade accord, a pilot program was instituted by the Bush administration. The program gave access to up to 500 Mexican trucks to drive deeper into the United States than previously allowed under law.

After just 18-months, facing pressure from labor unions and other progressive groups, Democratic lawmakers scuttled the program, raising safety, regulatory and employment concerns. Critics have also alleged that Mexican drug cartels could use commercial vehicles to smuggle drugs into the U.S.

In response to Congress cutting off funds for the program last year, the Mexican government imposed a slew of tariffs on 90 U.S. imports totaling $2.4 billion. Mexican officials now say that they will not drop the tariffs unless their trucks and drivers are given full access to American roadways.

The all or nothing stance by the Mexican government could make renegotiating the provision a tricky proposition. On the other side of the divide, labor unions and many Democratic lawmakers are not willing to give an inch either, and do not want to see even the pilot program revived.

Earlier this year, a coalition of 77 House members, most of whom are Democrats, sent the president a letter explaining that the only proper course of action is to permanently renegotiate that section of the trade pact to keep Mexican trucks off American roadways.

“Mexico has no meaningful system for commercial driver’s licenses, drug testing or hours of service,” Rep. Pete DeFazio (D-OR), the organizer of the letter campaign, wrote.

Under the language inserted into the fiscal 2011 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill by Murray, the Obama administration would have until Oct. 1 to develop a plan to eliminate retaliatory tariffs imposed by Mexico on a slew of Washington agricultural products.

To achieve that goal, the administration would likely have to provide an unlimited number of Mexican commercial vehicles unfettered access to America’s roadways.

“I am extremely frustrated that the administration has not yet acted while farmers across my home state of Washington continue to suffer under Mexico’s retaliatory tariffs,” Murray said in a news release.

She claims that the state’s farmers have suffered greatly due to the retaliatory tariffs imposed by the Mexican government. The state’s potato industry, which employs roughly 20,000 workers, has witnessed a $14 million decline in exports to Mexico since the tariffs were imposed.

“I am urging both the Obama administration and the Mexican government to solve this issue and allow Washington state farmers to compete on a level playing field,” she said.

Union leaders appear to be steadfast in their position that Mexican commercial vehicles should be permanently banned from American roadways as well.

“The correct response to the excessive tariffs is to challenge them, not to cave in to Mexico’s bullying tactics,” Teamsters General President James Hoffa told The Wall Street Journal. “Mexico has failed to ensure that its trucks and drivers meet the same safety standards as U.S. trucks.”

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