Mexico Revising Plan to Collect Deposits on U.S. Cars

Faced with mounting criticism from U.S. border states fearing damaged trade and tourist relations, the Mexican government announced Thursday that it will postpone and revise a program to collect refundable deposits from drivers of U.S.-registered cars crossing the border.

“The measure is going ahead in a few weeks time, but we are changing some of the logistics to make it easier for people to comply with the measure,” said Treasury Department spokesman Marco Provencio.

The measure, initially slated to go into effect Monday, will charge drivers of U.S.-registered automobiles $400 for cars produced in 1994 or earlier, $600 for models from 1995 to 1998; and $800 for those made this year or later, Mexican officials said. The fees will be refunded when the cars return to the United States.

Provencio said the program is being delayed to allow officials to make two major changes: Drivers will be able to use a credit card voucher instead of cash, and they can collect their refund at any border post, regardless of where they entered the country.

“So you could come in through Tijuana and leave through Matamoros [at the other end of the border, opposite Brownsville, Texas], and still receive your deposit,” Provencio said.

He said that while the changes will delay the program, it still will go into effect before the end of the year. “I cannot respond at the moment whether it will be two weeks, four weeks, six weeks, but it’s going to be this year,” he said.

U.S. officials have expressed fears that the program would damage tourism, trade and investment from the United States, as well as discouraging families from visiting relatives in Mexico.

The co-chairmen of the U.S. Congressional Border Caucus, Reps. Solomon P. Ortiz (D-Texas) and Henry Bonilla (R-Texas), drafted a letter this week to the Mexican ambassador in Washington asking for reconsideration of a policy they termed “counterproductive to the cooperation between the United States and Mexico.”

Ortiz worried that opponents of the North American Free Trade Agreement may seize on the new policy as a way of undoing the pact between the United States, Mexico and Canada.