Mexico City, March 20 - Mexico's government is open to proposals from the United States to end the trade dispute that began when Washington banned Mexican trucks from U.S. roads, a senior trade official said on Thursday.
Mexico on Wednesday slapped tariffs on about 90 U.S. imported products, including consumer goods and produce, in retaliation for U.S. termination of a pilot program to begin allowing Mexican trucks to haul goods in the United States.
Some U.S. lawmakers and truck drivers' unions say Mexican trucks do not meet U.S. safety standards, a charge Mexico denies.
Mexico says the truck ban violates the North American Free Trade Agreement. It says it imposed the tariffs, which range from 10 percent to 45 percent, to hurt producers from as many U.S. states as possible.
"We are waiting for them to come to us, to contact us with specific proposals to resolve this issue," Deputy Secretary of International Trade Beatriz Leycegui told Reuters in an interview.
"We are very open to see what kind of alternatives they provide," she said.
U.S. groups have called for a quick resolution to the trade row, which they worry could hurt U.S. jobs.
President Barack Obama has asked the U.S. Department of Transportation, the U.S. trade representative and State Department to design a new program to address Congress' concerns, said one U.S. official.
The National Association of Manufacturers, a major trade group in the United States, urged the Obama administration to come up with a quick solution to the dispute, which could affect U.S. jobs.
"This comes at a time when U.S. industry can least afford lost sales and competitiveness in important global markets," the National Association of Manufacturers said in a statement.
"This is the worst possible time to send a signal to our closest trading partners that the United States does not take its commitments seriously," the statement said.
The goods hit with tariffs -- estimated to be worth $2.4 billion -- ranged from strawberries to Christmas trees but excluded major grain staples and meat, which could lead to higher food prices for Mexican consumers.
Leycegui said the commercial value of the tariffs was calculated to be equivalent to the accumulated losses estimated from backlogs at the U.S.-Mexico border because of the trucking rules.
At every crossing, Mexican truckers currently have to offload their cargo and transfer it to a U.S. truck allowed to circulate on the other side of the border, a process that can cost between $100 and $200 a load, she said.
The charges quickly add up, with some 4.5 million crossings each year, she said.