Arizona-Mexico trade relationship continues to boost border economies

12/02/19 – Chamber Business News

By Graham Bosch

Mexico is Arizona’s top trading partner, accounting for about 30 percent of the state’s exports to foreign markets, according to an extensive ongoing study by the Eller College of Management at the University of Arizona.

With that in mind, it’s no wonder that business leaders, trade experts and economists agree the cross-border relationship is of the utmost importance to Arizona when it comes to trade, manufacturing, education, safety, tourism and more.

Read more…

Telefonica teams up with AT&T in Mexico in new bid to take fight to Slim

11/21/19 – Reuters

By Julia Love

Spanish telecoms giant Telefonica has struck a deal to use some of U.S. rival AT&T’s infrastructure in Mexico, a move analysts said would better position both to compete with the market’s juggernaut, billionaire Carlos Slim’s America Movil.

Under the agreement announced on Thursday, Telefonica will use AT&T’s wireless ‘last-mile’ equipment – the final link of telecom networks that delivers service to consumers through towers, antennas and fiber-optic cables.

Read more…

Parts with passports: how free trade drives GM’s engines

Photo by Mike on Pexels.com

11/18/19 – Reuters

By Nick Carey

Long before the pistons for General Motors Co V-6 engines reach the U.S. No. 1 automaker’s Romulus, Michigan plant, they are seasoned international travelers.

Powdered aluminum from Tennessee is shipped to Pennsylvania and forged at high temperatures into connecting rods for the pistons, which are then sent to Canada to be shaped and polished. They are then shipped to Mexico for sub-assembly and finally the finished pistons are loaded onto trucks bound for Romulus to become part of a GM V-6 engine.

Read more…

U.S. House Speaker seeks to pass Mexico, Canada trade pact this year

11/14/19 – Reuters

By Richard Cowan

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday said a breakthrough in talks with the Trump administration on the trade pact with Mexico and Canada could be imminent and that she wanted to pass the deal by the end of the year.

“We are moving positively in terms of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada agreement. Again, it all comes down to … enforcement,” she told reporters at a news conference “I do believe that if we can get this to the place it needs to be, which is imminent, that this can be a template for future trade agreements.”

Read more…

Borderlands: Wait times in Laredo and San Diego are up; Trucker dies in fatal I-10 crash in San Antonio

Photo by Craig Adderley on Pexels.com

11/09/19 – Freight Waves

By Noi Mahoney

Holiday surge increases wait times at Laredo and San Diego border crossings

As the holiday season approaches, businesses across the United States have begun scrambling to ensure goods will arrive in time for Black Friday and Christmas.

The result has been increased wait times for commercial trucks crossimg the U.S.-Mexico border at ports of entry in Laredo and San Diego.

Read more…

Mexico’s auto production and exports drop sharply, battered by Ford

Photo by KML on Pexels.com

11/06/19 – Reuters

By Julia Love and Sharay Angulo

Mexico’s auto production and exports fell sharply in October compared with the same month last year as production from U.S. automaker Ford Motor Co ground to a halt, according to data from the national statistics agency INEGI.

Auto production declined 16.35%, while exports dropped 19.52%, the data showed.

Read more…

Pelosi: U.S. House close to approving trade deal with Mexico, Canada

10/31/19 – Reuters

By Patricia Zengerle and Makini Brice, Lisa Lambert

The U.S. House of Representatives is still working toward approving a trade agreement President Donald Trump worked out with Canada and Mexico, Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Thursday.

The House is on a “path to yes”, Pelosi said about ratifying the agreement, which was signed nearly a year ago, adding that her chamber’s inquiry into whether Trump should be impeached has “nothing to do” with its work on the agreement.

Read more…

Mexican government mulls legalization of 18 million “chocolate cars”

Photo by Life Of Pix on Pexels.com

10/23/19 – Freight Waves

By Noi Mahoney

Authorities in Mexico have proposed legislation to legalize around 18 million so-called “carros chocolates,” or chocolate cars – vehicles illegally imported into the country from the United States.

If the proposed legislation passes, it would be a blow to the Mexican automotive industry, which relies heavily on global supply chains from U.S., European and Asian producers to make cars.

Read more…

Ethanol trade team from Mexico visits Nebraska to understand US ethanol industry

Photo by Tonya Kumpula on Pexels.com

10/25/19 – High Plains Journal

Nebraska Corn Board

A delegation of 19 industry leaders from Mexico were in Nebraska recently to gain a better understanding of the U.S. ethanol sector. FroThe delegation toured all facets of Nebraska’s ethanol industry, from cornfield to fuel retailer.

 

On the first day of their trip, the group was provided with an overview of Nebraska’s agricultural and ethanol industries before they traveled to Giltner and visited Hunnicutt Farms. At the farm, the team learned about corn, seed corn, popcorn and soybean production. Through the discussions, the delegation was introduced to cutting-edge technologies in American agriculture and were able to better understand how some farmers utilize irrigation equipment.

Read more…

Record Year at Pharr Bridge

 

Photo by Quintin Gellar on Pexels.com

10/21/19 – The Monitor

By Mitchell Ferman

The lines at the bridge lasted more than 10 hours at times. “It was bad,” Martin Arteaga said in early April, after crossing a load of bell peppers over the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge in his truck from Mexico.

It was the beginning of a slog of a spring at the Pharr bridge, when trucks and passenger vehicles sat on the 3.2-mile span in jammed lines that President Donald Trump threatened to close at the border in late March. Not long after, hundreds of U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers were reassigned from ports of entry to assist Border Patrol agents with immigration duties.

Read more…