Mexican Economy Minister Tatiana Clouthier said a planned expansion of railways and ports – known as the T-MEC Corridor – to connect the Pacific port of Mazatlán with the Canadian city of Winnipeg would not use Texas, but rather the railroad would runs along the edge of West Texas to Santa Teresa, NM, about 20 miles west of downtown El Paso. “We are not going to use Texas now,” Clouthier told a conference in Mexico City on April 28. “We can not leave all the eggs in one basket and take hostage someone who wants to use trade as a political tool.” Clouthier referred to what Mexican and U.S. officials and business leaders on both sides of the border described as the chaos created by Abbott’s April 6 order requiring all commercial trucks coming from Mexico to Texas to go through “improved »Security checks. Abbott said the move was necessary to crack down on human and drug traffickers. Critics backed down, saying the governor’s move was politically motivated and noting that commercial trucks were already controlled by US federal authorities. They also noted that border security is a federal responsibility and that while DPS officials can conduct vehicle security inspections, they have no authority to conduct investigations. The DPS did not report finding any unauthorized migrants or illicit substances during the 10-day intensive inspection period, although numerous security breaches were identified. The slow pace of inspections and protests that led truckers upset by the delays led to regular five to 12 hour backups at commercial border crossings. Some truckers were asked by The Dallas Morning News he said they had to wait three days to pass. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a border security agreement with Chihuahua Gov. Maria Campos Galvan in Austin on April 14. (Acacia Coronado / ASSOCIATED PRESS) Abbott ordered the inspections to end after the governors of the Mexican states bordering Texas presented him with border security plans – mostly work already under way – that he could advertise through the recently signed agreements at press conferences. But the damage had already been done. Delays at border crossings have left some vulnerable products rotting and straining supply chains already crushed by the coronavirus pandemic. Waco-based researcher Perryman Group estimated that Texas suffered a financial loss of about $ 4.2 billion. Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador called Abbott’s actions “hateful.” Abbott’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Jerry Pacheco, president of the Santa Teresa-based Border Industrial Association, called Clouthier’s announcement “a very positive step for New Mexico,” but warned that such a project would take years to complete and “anything that can happen in this time”. “I do not think they have completed another project,” Pacheco said. “So this is very much in the preliminary stages, but the very fact that we are discussing in the early stages is positive. “If this project does not work, there will be other projects that the Mexican government will have and they will speak favorably of New Mexico, because they know we want to work with them in a constructive way.” Pacheco said he has already seen a big change from the business community in Mexico and the United States. “It was very interesting, but once Governor Abbott’s truck inspections were over, our registration numbers remained higher than normal for cargo shipments to the north, which leads me to believe that what I thought would be a temporary solution will remain in reality. in the long run, “he said. Ciudad Juárez and El Paso’s business leaders refer to us now as a “very effective delivery route”. ” Borderplex, an El Paso-based community-based advocacy group, declined to comment. In many ways, Abbott’s inspections only strengthened Santa Teresa, an already thriving community with a port of entry, where companies also produce materials and components for factories in Mexico that assemble everything from computers, airfoils, consumer electronics and processed foods to cars and industrial equipment which are then sent back to US based companies. The industrial parks in Santa Teresa house large warehouses of products that constantly cross the border, supported by a transport network that includes an airport and railway companies and distribution companies that manage the continuous movement of goods in all directions. The entire industrial zone operates as one of the country’s largest ports for truck and train transhipments across North America, although Laredo is the No. 1 crossing point for commercial platforms. The port of Santa Teresa has long offered a quick alternative to congested border crossings in El Paso, where it generally takes two or more hours for trucks to enter the northern United States. Instead, it takes less than 20 minutes in Santa Teresa, according to Pacheco. “For businesses that have not used Santa Teresa’s port of entry, think of this alternative as a great, necessary idea,” said Franz Felhaber, president of Felhaber and Company Inc., a customs brokerage firm that serves both clients. sides of the border. The trucks were waiting to be inspected by Texas soldiers at an inspection site near the Pharr – Reynosa International Bridge, which reopened on April 14 in Pharr. (Juan Figueroa / Staff Photographer) During the chaotic week following the start of Abbott’s enhanced inspections, Felhaber and other customs and truck companies began shifting commercial vehicles from El Paso to New Mexico to bypass Texas. “If Abbott wants to get involved with the supply chain, New Mexico is a solid Plan B,” Felhaber said. “We need choices.” Abbott has threatened to resume inspections if he feels border security is inadequate. This makes business and trade experts wary, as migration across the southwestern border is already expected to increase from around 6,000 a day to up to 18,000 a day this summer due to seasonal changes and the planned lifting of the related health order. with the pandemic allowing for the rapid expulsion of migrants on 23 May. Business leaders are quick to say they support border security, but continue to worry about things affecting more than $ 661 billion in trade between the United States and Mexico. “I do not disagree with what Abbott did, I mean he had to do something to try to protect our borders, but he also created a much more serious problem than he imagined,” said James K. Robinson. president of JH Rose Logistics, which provides trucks for international trade in this border area. “It just created a mess in the supply chain, so to speak.” Here in Santa Teresa, a small, lively community with a big heart, things seem to be looking up. Many multimillion-dollar state, private and federal infrastructure projects are underway across southern New Mexico, including Santa Teresa and Sunland Park, just across the state of Texas, Pacheco said, adding that annual trade between New Mexico and Mexico is about $ 2.8 billion, a drop in the bucket compared to Texas. In February, the most recent month for which data were available, $ 39.5 billion worth of goods were transported by truck to the Texas-Mexico border in both directions. Abbott’s recent actions at the border, Pacheco said, underscore the differences between Texas and New Mexico. “We are also playing border politics, but we are playing to bring more trade from Mexico through our ports of entry into New Mexico, not to block trade,” he said.
