Borderlands Mexico: US-Mexico trade hit $74B in August, Port Laredo No. 1 again

Borderlands is a weekly rundown of developments in the world of United States-Mexico cross-border trucking and trade. This week: US-Mexico trade hit $74B in August, Port Laredo No. 1 again; Imperative Logistics Group acquires freight forwarder Jamco; Gebruder Weiss partners with Mexico load board Cargado; and Avery Dennison opens $100M facility in Queretaro, Mexico.

U.S.-Mexico trade totaled $73.77 billion in August, an increase of 4% from the same month one year ago, according to the latest data from the Census Bureau.

It was the eighth consecutive month and 18th of the past 19 months that Mexico has been No. 1 in trade with the U.S.

Canada ranked No. 2 for trade with the U.S. in August at $63 billion, while China was third at $51.8 billion.

Through the first eight months of the year, trade between the U.S. and Mexico totaled $560 billion. Trade with Canada totaled $509 billion, while China trade came to $373 billion.

The top three exports from Mexico to the U.S. during the month were computers ($4.72 billion) passenger vehicles ($4 billion) and auto parts ($3.3 billion), according to the Census Bureau.

Top imports from the U.S. to Mexico in August were gasoline and other fuels ($3 billion), auto parts ($1.74 billion), and computer parts ($1.73 million).

Nearshoring of manufacturing to Mexico continues to boost cross-border trade, according to Jordan Dewart, president of Redwood Mexico, the cross-border shipping arm of Chicago-based fourth-party logistics provider Redwood Logistics.

“We track nearshoring foreign direct investment and we continue to see more new players investing in Mexico, existing expansions,” Dewart told FreightWaves in an email. “Some companies are playing the wait and see game pending the results of the upcoming U.S. election, notably Tesla. But they are not the only EV player in Mexico as we are seeing many more (notably BYD) announce investments in Mexico. Much of this is coming in from Asia, especially China, and West Coast Mexican port volumes were up year over year as noted in the September issue of our Redwood Cross Border Index.”

Dewart said demand for cross-border trucking capacity continues to climb but is being affected by Mexican driver shortages and cargo theft issues.

“Volumes that we handle are up significantly, year over year, and this may be due to our diverse customer base including healthcare, food & beverage, automotive, retail and manufacturing,” Dewart said. “Mexican trucking rates continue to hold and are on the rise due both to increased demand and lack of drivers. It is continually more difficult to find reliable drivers willing to get behind the wheel of a truck in Mexico. Much of this is due to increased theft and violence on Mexican highways. It’s really getting out of hand, many companies now only drive during daylight hours which slows transit and is suboptimal in terms of efficiency.”