WASHINGTON — A plan to allow Mexican trucks to once again cross the American border beyond the longstanding 25-mile restriction zone moved another step closer to reality.

According to The Washington Times, a new proposal to reopen the border to select Mexican carriers has gone through all the interagency channels and will be passed along to Capital Hill for a vote.

President Obama has been under pressure by trucking and trade groups to reestablish a version of the Bush Administration’s two year-old, cross-border pilot program he cancelled shortly after taking office. 

Saying the move was a breach of NAFTA, Mexico retaliated immediately by slapping tariffs on about 90 U.S. import products. 

Now that a new cross-border program has cleared bureaucratic review, businesses interests are hoping the tariffs on $2.4 billion worth of U.S. goods will soon end.

Though, critics of the program, particularly the Teamsters and OOIDA, continue to lobby the White House and Democratic senators to maintain the ban.