US-Mexico cross-border trade may hit $1 trillion by 2028
International trade between the U.S. and Mexico could top $1 trillion inside the subsequent five years, in response to U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas.
Cuellar was speaking at a groundbreaking Wednesday for the Las Americas Roma Logistics and Industrial Park in Roma, Texas, where he discussed Mexico, america’ largest trading partner last 12 months and 12 months to this point in 2023.
“We’re hoping in … lower than five years, we’re going to hit $1 trillion of trade between the U.S. and Mexico,” Cuellar said, in response to CBS 4. “We’re at $863 billion last 12 months. The way in which we’re growing … in lower than five years, we’ll hit 1 trillion.”
The U.S. Census Bureau gives a lower figure for 2022: $779 billion. Cuellar’s office didn’t immediately reply to FreightWaves’ request for clarification. Trade between Mexico and the U.S. totaled almost $400 billion from January through June 2023, in response to the Census Bureau.
In 2022, trade between the U.S. and Canada totaled $793 billion, while trade with China totaled $690 billion.
Through the ceremony, Cuellar also announced $1.5 million in federal funding for the brand new logistics and industrial park in Roma, which will likely be a 147-acre facility with greater than 25 industrial warehouses. The funding will go toward completing the park’s electrical, communications and water/drainage infrastructure.
“As South Texas continues to grow, so too does our demand for correct industrial facilities,” Cuellar said.
The commercial park will likely be minutes away from the Roma port of entry on the Mexican border. Roma is about 90 miles east of Laredo and 50 miles west of McAllen, Texas.
The port of entry on the Roma-Ciudad Miguel Aleman International Bridge spans the Rio Grande River, connecting Roma with the Mexican city of Miguel Aleman. The Roma port of entry originally opened in 1928, but the present two-lane bridge was constructed in 1988.
Cross-border trade through the bridge totaled $647 million in 2022, in response to the newest U.S. Census Bureau data analyzed by WorldCity.
Las Americas Roma Logistics and Industrial Park may also include a brand new secondary examination station for agents with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The examination station will likely be equipped with cold storage facilities to examine fresh produce arriving from Mexico.
CBP officials said the Roma port of entry has seen an uptick in cargo truck traffic the past several years.
“We were averaging about 23 trucks a day, and today we average near 200 a day,” Andres Guerra, CBP director for the port of entry, told CBS 4. “Previously, we didn’t receive any produce. At this moment, we process over 120 trucks a day of produce. Roma is now the fifth-largest port when it comes to produce on the Southwest border from California to Brownsville, [Texas].”
Cross-border trade continued to boom in June, with Mexico being the highest U.S. trade partner at $68.49 billion, a 1% year-over-year (y/y) increase.
It’s the sixth time up to now seven months that Mexico ranked No. 1. Canada edged out Mexico as the highest U.S. trading partner in April.
During June, Canada ranked No. 2 at $66.3 billion in trade, while China ranked third, reporting $44.6 billion in trade.
For the fifth straight month, Laredo retained the No. 1 spot among the many nation’s 450 international gateways for trade, in response to WorldCity.
Chicago O’Hare International Airport and the Port of Los Angeles were tied for second at $25.6 billion, while John F. Kennedy International Airport was No. 3 at $21 billion.
During June, Laredo recorded a 6.2% y/y increase in total commerce to $27.6 billion, with auto parts ($12.7 billion), passenger vehicles ($7.5 billion) and industrial vehicles ($5.8 billion) as the highest imports from Mexico.
The highest exports from the U.S. to Mexico were auto parts ($7.9 billion), gasoline ($1.9 billion) and diesel engines ($1.6 billion).
Railway expands freight capability with recent bridge in North Texas
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BNSF Railway recently opened the Trinity River bridge near Fort Price, Texas, aiming to bolster capability throughout the region, company officials said.
The bridge is a component of the railway’s plan so as to add double-track segments from Fort Price to the town of Temple in central Texas.
The bridge, which services each freight and passenger trains, is the primary of two planned to span the Trinity River. The second track will likely be built after the team demolishes a 126-year-old steel bridge. The second span is scheduled for completion in 2024.
“We’re excited concerning the increased capability this bridge project will bring, which is able to help support the tremendous future growth expected in Texas and the Gulf Coast region,” Jon Gabriel, BNSF’s vice chairman of service design, said in a news release.
Fort Price-based BNSF is one among North America’s largest freight transportation corporations, operating 32,500 route miles of track in 28 states and three Canadian provinces.
Toms taps Texas logistics software provider as US achievement partner
Austin, Texas-based Cart.com Inc. recently announced that Los Angeles-based footwear brand Toms will use the corporate’s software for inventory management, 3PL and achievement offerings within the U.S.
Cart.com’s 3PL offering goals to enable business-to-business, business-to-consumer and D2C customers to automate and simplify mission-critical supply chain operations, reduce costs and deliver real-time order and inventory visibility.
“Cart.com’s software-enabled inventory, 3PL and achievement capabilities will enable us to deliver best-in-class achievement, from checkout through the last mile, across our global product line,” Magnus Wedhammar, CEO of Toms, said in a news release.
Founded in 2020, Cart.com is an omnichannel logistics and software solutions provider with over 1,100 employees and 6,000 brands on its platform.
CBP discovers 1st-in-nation pest in Southern California
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials said Thursday a first-in-the-nation pest was discovered July 19 on the Otay Mesa port of entry, just south of San Diego.
![](https://www.freightwaves.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/18/Borderlands_CBP_pest.png)
CBP agriculture specialists were inspecting a shipment of pocket leaves arriving from Mexico once they discovered an insect identified as Rhabdotalebra signata.
Insects belonging to the Rhabdotalebra family can damage crops similar to beans, potatoes, apple trees and grapes, in response to a report within the Journal of the Argentine Entomological Society. The mothlike species is indigenous to Central and South America.
The species had not been previously recorded within the Department of Agriculture’s database, qualifying the invention as a primary across all ports within the nation.
The shipment of pocket leaves was returned to Mexico. Pocket leaves are commonly utilized in Vietnamese and Thai cuisines, in response to Walmart.
Watch: Electric bus maker Proterra files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
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