LIVE INTELLIGENCE

The Corridor

North America's busiest land port. $339 billion in trade. 2.9 million trucks. One crossing.

Trade Pulse

$0M

Est. Daily Trade Value

2.89Mtrucks (2025)

BTS Border Crossing Data · Laredo Port

Tariff Environment

ELEVATED

USMCA non-compliant25%

China reciprocal10%

§301 Lists 1–4active

Full analysis

Industrial Footprint

0M SF

Projected Industrial Market

36M SF (2018)61M SF (2026)

$1B+ committed capital

Read the story

Employment Exposure

0,000

Corridor-Connected Jobs

4.3M jobs at risk nationally under USMCA disruption

See full analysis

INTERACTIVE OP-ED · Building on Trade: Laredo's Billion-Dollar Industrial Moment · Feb 2026

2015–2025

A Decade of Growth

Truck crossings at the Port of Laredo have grown 40% in a decade, with a sharp recovery after the 2020 pandemic dip. The 2025 plateau marks the first year of tariff uncertainty.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Border Crossing/Entry Data, Port of Laredo

2025 Truck Crossings

The #1 Gateway

Laredo handles 38.8% of all truck traffic from Mexico. No other port comes close.

Source: BTS 2025 annual release, U.S.-Mexico truck crossings by port of entry

Annual Trade Value

What Flows Through

$0B

More than the GDP of Hong Kong

More than the GDP of Israel

37% of all U.S.-Mexico trade by truck

Source: BTS Transborder Freight Data, U.S. Census Bureau

2025 Monthly

Monthly Crossings

Seasonal patterns show peak activity in March and October, with lighter volume in February and December.

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Source: BTS monthly data, approximate seasonal distribution from 2025 annual total of 2.89M

Policy Research

Frameworks for the Future

BCA

Binational Customs Agency

A joint U.S.-Mexico customs processing model to eliminate redundant inspections.

Co-authored with Ambassador Gerónimo Gutiérrez Fernández

NAICC

North American Industrial Coordination Council

Trilateral coordination for supply chain resilience and industrial competitiveness.

Co-authored with Gerry Schwebel

NADICI

North American Digital Infrastructure Coordination Initiative

Digital trade facilitation, AI governance, and cross-border data flows.

Daniel Covarrubias, Ph.D.

Director, Texas Center for Border Economic & Enterprise Development

Texas A&M International University

Researching the intersection of trade policy, exponential technologies, and cross-border economic integration from the Texas-Mexico border.

View CV LinkedIn Email

Data Sources & Methodology

Truck crossing data: U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), Border Crossing/Entry Data, collected by U.S. Customs and Border Protection at the port of Laredo. Monthly data released with approximately 2-month lag. Annual figures are calendar year totals.

Trade value estimates: BTS Transborder Freight Data and U.S. Census Bureau. The $339B figure represents the most recent full-year estimate of goods traded through the Laredo customs district.

Daily estimates: Calculated from annual totals divided by operating days, weighted by seasonal patterns. These are approximations, not real-time feeds.

Industrial market data: From published analysis in "Building on Trade: Laredo's Billion-Dollar Industrial Moment" (Covarrubias, 2026), sourced from Webb County Appraisal District records and commercial real estate market reports.

Employment exposure: From the TAMIU Texas Center trilateral employment vulnerability analysis (Covarrubias & Lozano, 2025).

Tariff status: Reflects tariff posture as of last page update. See Tariffs Dev for current tracking.

This dashboard presents curated data for contextual understanding. It is not a real-time data feed. All figures are from public U.S. government sources unless otherwise noted.