From Texas Public Radio:
Residents, business owners and political leaders in Laredo, Texas are bracing for President Trump’s implementation of a 5% tariff on all goods coming from Mexico that would begin June 10.
The president said the tariff will gradually increase to 25% if Mexico doesn’t do more to stop the flow of illegal immigration into the U.S.
Ernesto Gaytan Jr. is the general manager of Super Transport International in Laredo, a company founded by his father almost 30 years ago in Mexico.
“Laredo exists because of its location and the closeness we have with Mexico,” he says.
Gaytan, wearing a black fitted suit in 90 degree Texas heat, toured his company’s operations field.
“This is where a lot of the transloads happen,” Gaytan says. “We move materials from a trailer coming in from the United States into Mexico. We transfer freight from a U.S. carrier to a Mexico carrier, or from a Mexican carrier to a U.S carrier.”
Mexico recently surpassed China and Canada as America’s top trading partner, which helped catapult Laredo past Los Angeles to become the No. 1 port in the country. About $20 billion worth of goods flowed through Laredo during the month of March —mostly automotive parts.