For Mexican companies, this rule never posed any particular problem, because it was largely ignored by the American authorities, in particular along a border where cultures have always mixed.
But for the Trump administration, this is a crucial stake in road safety that has been overlooked for too long.
The problem ? English.
President Donald Trump has exerted considerable pressure on Mexico, not only by brandishing the threat of customs duties and that of military intervention, but also based on the road transport sector, which generates billions of dollars in trade between the United States and their main trading partner.
In April, shortly after appointing the English official language of the United States, Trump restored a sanction-withdrawing the driver’s license to a driver-for violation of an American law which requires that business vehicle drivers know English sufficiently to decipher road signs and communicate with the American authorities. This decision sparked a fight in Mexico, where companies are trying to instill enough English to their drivers to maintain their activities.
This year, according to data from the Department of Transport, the authorities reported more than 5,000 offenses committed by Mexican truckers who did not speak English sufficiently, against around 240 in 2024.
“An emergency”
“We have to study,” sums up a trucker, Luis Alberto Alvarado Machado, 36. “If we can’t drive, everything stops. And if a driver is declared unfit to work beyond the commercial areas along the border between the United States and Mexico, he can no longer lead as long as he does not meet the obligation to master English.
PHOTO MERIDITH KOHUT, THE NEW YORK TIMES
The trucker Luis Alberto Alvarado Machado
The Trump administration further increased pressure last week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio having suspended all the new work visas for commercial road drivers. “The growing number of foreign drivers leading to large semi-trailer trucks on American roads endangers the lives of Americans and overwhelms the means of subsistence of American truckers,” he said.
This decision was made a few days after the Transport Department announced the opening of an investigation into a fatal accident in Florida involving an Indian road driver who, according to the authorities, was illegally found in the country and did not speak English sufficiently.
Mexican officials said on Friday that they were not concerned about the suspension of the visas declared by Mr. Rubio, since Mexican truckers use a visa issued as part of the trade agreement between the two countries.
Nevertheless, Mexican companies hasten to adapt. “This rule takes us in an emergency situation,” worries Israel Delgado Vallejo, owner of a road transport company established in Tijuana, Mexico. However, he adds: “We are in favor of road safety and we think that this measure is necessary. »»
Course and simulations
The extent of road transport between the two countries is enormous. Last year, according to US government figures, 5.9 million trucks crossed the border between Mexico and the United States, more than 16,000 trucks per day.
PHOTO JOSE LUIS GONZALEZ, REUTERS
Passage of trucks to the border between the United States and Mexico, to Ciudad Juárez
Half of them entered Laredo, Texas, which means that no place felt the effects of Trump’s decision as Nuevo Laredo, the Mexican capital of road transport, on the other side of the border.
A small local English learning industry has developed. Last Saturday, a study session started at 8 a.m., with 17 truckers from several companies who took place for an intensive six -week course. For five hours, the truckers practiced pronunciation, revised the vocabulary of trucking and repeated exchanges with American road inspectors on destinations and goods.
PHOTO MERIDITH KOHUT, THE NEW YORK TIMES
L’Enseignant Josaphat Guerrero Gutierrez
In a scenario, the drivers were seated in a truck when a teacher, playing the role of an American agent, approached, ordered them to open the door and asked them for their driving license and other documents. But one of the drivers, Jose Gómez, began to stammered in Spanish when he was asked where he put the warning panels in the truck.
“I was nervous,” says Gómez, 43. “Imagine an agent in front of me. »»
For truckers who speak little or not English, or those who have recently received warnings from the American authorities, these courses are essential. Previously, many were on hand signs, translation applications or the Spanish skills of agents to manage. “And thanks to technologies like GPS, they come and go without any problem,” explains Héctor Hinojosa, owner of H&H Transport in Nuevo Laredo.
PHOTO MERIDITH KOHUT, THE NEW YORK TIMES
The English teacher Josaphat Guerrero Gutierrez plays the role of an American police officer during a simulated road check with Abdón Alvarado Lerma.
Today, the truckers fear that each interaction, whether it is a road control or a control at the weighing station, turns to the English exam. They explain that state police officers can also test their English and that the agents of certain states, such as Texas and New Mexico, are more tanner than others.
A branch of the US transport department recommends that his agents assess whether a driver is able to answer questions in English on the starting point or the destination of his journey, how long he drives, what he transports and if his truck is in good condition.
The agent can also question the driver on the road panels, specifies this branch, adding that “the driver can express himself in any language, provided that the agent is able to understand his explanations”.
PHOTO MERIDITH KOHUT, THE NEW YORK TIMES
Mexican truckers according to an English course in Nuevo Laredo
Stress and concern
When Jair Martínez, a Mexican trucker who transports goods from Nuevo Laredo to Laredo, crossed the Texas border two months ago, he said he received a warning.
“I stumbled,” he says, calling his level of English as very weak. “I didn’t understand much. It was the stress and pressure related to hearing other B-1 drivers who were sanctioned or returned, ”he added, referring to the drivers holding temporary visa for business of the same type.
After that, Martínez, 49, signed up for an English course. While other companies have covered the training costs of their drivers, Martínez says he has paid $ 80 of registration fees himself.
“It’s worrying,” he agrees.
We are not with us. It means that this is a privilege that the United States grants by delivering this visa to us and allowing us to work.
Jair Martínez, Mexican trucker
“These are their rules, we must respect them and we must do our best to communicate. »»
If several operators of Mexican road transport companies are in favor of Trump’s policy if it makes the roads safer, some claim that the deficient mastery of English has never been a problem until then. Many fear that they do not have enough time to sufficiently teach the language to their drivers, which could disrupt shipments in an already in sub-employment sector.
Juan Manuel Talamas, who runs a road transport company in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, applauds this measure. “But what has not been done for many years is not done overnight. »»
This article was published in the New York Times.
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