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The Mexican government will tighten inspections and lower maximum allowed weights for freight trucks after protests over a string of fatal accidents involving double-trailer trucks, the Associated Press reported.

The federal government’s program allowing Mexican trucks into the country improperly exempts Mexican truckers from regulations concerning licenses, medical certification and drug testing, an advocacy group told a federal court last week.

The federal government defended its program allowing Mexican trucks into the United States, telling a court this month that the pilot program complies with all federal laws related to safety, environmental protection and driver licensing, in addition to the laws specific to the program itself.

A protracted battle about international trade negotiations appears to have ended in 2011, and for the second time in recent years, the United States agreed to grant Mexican motor carriers the right to operate beyond the 25-mile border zone.

The Teamsters union has filed suit in an attempt to block the Department of Transportation from opening the U.S. border to what it termed “dangerous” Mexican trucks through DOT’s cross-border pilot program.

Fifteen Mexican trucking companies have applied for operating authority to make deliveries in the United States under the cross-border pilot program, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said last week.

Mexico-based Transportes Olympic sent the first Mexican truck into the United States in more than two years this month as part of the cross-border trucking agreement between the countries, kicking off the three-year test of Mexican carriers.

The first Mexican truck crossed the United States border Friday as part of the cross-border trucking pilot program between the countries, the Associated Press reported.

The United States opened its border to Mexican trucks this month for the first time in more than two years, granting Mexico-based Transportes Olympic permission to operate throughout the country as part of a cross-border pilot program.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s decision to allow a Mexico-based carrier to operate in the United States received praise from U.S. groups whose exports to Mexico will soon be free from retaliatory tariffs.