Lawmakers press Obama to fix Mexico truck spat

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A group of 56 lawmakers urged President Barack Obama's administration on Wednesday to resolve quickly a dispute with Mexico over cross-border trucking that has damaged bilateral trade.

"The current situation is unsustainable and untenable," the lawmakers said in a letter to Trade Representative Ron Kirk and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

"Our constituents need help immediately and we implore you to work quickly to implement a solution that ensures safety and normalizes trade. Please communicate your plans for a solution so we are better able to understand the administration's strategy," the lawmakers said.

The plea came nearly one year after Mexico slapped retaliatory duties on a long list of U.S. exports, including fruit and industrial goods, worth an estimated $2.4 billion.

Mexico took the action after U.S. lawmakers, citing safety and security concerns, canceled funding for a test program begun by the Bush administration that allowed Mexican long-haul trucks to circulate in the United States.

The United States agreed to open its market to Mexican trucks as part of the North American Free Trade Agreement, but the U.S. Teamsters union and many of its supporters in Congress have fought implementation of the pledge.

The most recent spending bill does not bar funding for the cross-border trucking program.

But the lawmakers complained they still have not seen any plan from the Obama administration for ending the dispute.

Kirk was asked about the issue on Wednesday at a Senate Finance Committee hearing on Obama's 2010 trade agenda.

"We'd like to find a way to come up with an acceptable program so we can move forward," Kirk said.

"I know it is having a very negative impact, particularly on many of agricultural industries in California and Washington and Texas," Kirk added. "We want to get it resolved."

(Reporting by Doug Palmer; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)