Following the start of the United States government’s executive order requiring B1 visa holders to be proficient in English in order to operate on the country’s roads, no major impacts on cross-border transport have been recorded so far . However, the measure is believed to be part of President Donald Trump’s actions to combat cabotage .
In the framework of the discussion Intermodal and foreign trade, challenges 2025 , organized by the National Association of Vehicle Tracking and Protection Companies (ANERPV) , Diego Anchustegui, president of the Mexican Association of Intermodal Transport (AMTI) , said that currently the impact is not so strong because there is not a great need for transportation, derived from the tariff policy of the United States, among other factors.
“We still have a cushion now. How will it continue to affect us? Well, we’ll see over time. We’re not seeing a huge impact. We don’t know how many operators there are with B1 visas or how many are operating in the United States who don’t speak English. All of the associations don’t know the impact yet,” he stressed.
It’s worth remembering that on April 28, the White House announced that Trump signed an executive order requiring all trucking operators to demonstrate English proficiency to operate on U.S. roads. June 25, the date designated by the U.S. government to rigorously implement the measure, marked the beginning of a stricter phase.
The measure establishes, among other factors, that operators with B1 visas must communicate in English with the authorities of their northern neighbor or else face fines and disqualification.
In his participation, Anchustegui commented that these types of measures were taken due to alleged abuses in the handling of B1 visas , which are granted to operators for trips originating in Mexico and ending in the United States, and vice versa.
He emphasized that U.S. authorities detected that cabotage—transporting merchandise within U.S. territory—was taking place, and that Mexican operators were using this permit to make a trip between Los Angeles, California, and Chicago , Illinois , which is not permitted.
“This began to attract the attention of the authorities, and they sought to resolve this problem, which was pushing this permit to its limits,” said the commercial director of EASO Transport .
At the event, he concluded that in light of this situation, there was a change in the regulation of this type of visa .
As you may recall, there have already been cases of trucking operators whose visas have been revoked for alleged cabotage, as Alfonso Millán, delegate of the National Chamber of Cargo Trucking (Canacar) in Tijuana, explained to T21.
“They revoked their visas and forced them to sign a form voluntarily withdrawing their request for admission to the United States. Only one refused to sign, and that’s why he remains detained, awaiting an immigration judge,” Millán said.
The case involved 20 Mexican operators who were intercepted in early July by immigration authorities at a checkpoint set up at one of the exits of Calexico, California, after which they were accused of allegedly engaging in cabotage , an activity prohibited for Mexican trucking.
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