FRONT PAGE: "Mexico Strikes Back in Trade Spat," by Greg Hitt, Christopher Conkey and Jose de Cordoba, Wall Street Journal, 17 March 2009. U.S. NEWS: "U.S. Moves to Patch Mexico Rift," by Christopher Conkey, Wall Street Journal, 21-22 March 2009.

This is direct payback for caving in to the Teamsters on restricting Mexican trucks from entering the U.S. and transporting their cargo directly to destinations. It was only a pilot program for now, but the signal was loud and clear. This is by far the dumbest thing Obama has done to date, and it's substantial. It was slipped into the $410B spending package he just signed. That alone should have triggered the veto. Doing this while Mexico suffers so badly from our drug war dynamics, and while we're trying to stabilize the global economy--really dumb. And then, just when my faith in Obama drops dramatically, he moves to make amends with this pilot program, as his administration "began efforts Friday to ease an erupting trade dispute with Mexico by starting work on a new program to give Mexican truckers broader access to U.S. highways." You start messing with NAFTA and Mexico retaliates with tariffs, and then you decide to fulfill your commitments. What did the pilot program show? No major accidents and Mexican drivers pass inspection at a higher rate than American drivers.