← The Desk · The Data StoriesThe Data
Interactive Op-Eds
The Data
Stories.
The argument, made so you can scroll it. Data-driven op-eds and scrollytelling on trade, tariffs, USMCA, and the corridor, each built on original analysis.
10pieces
7on this desk
2co-authored
2025–26published
Every piece pairs a clear thesis with the data behind it. The featured stories are interactive; all of them run on numbers you can check.
Port Laredo: North America's Busiest Land PortClose to four in every ten trucks entering the United States from Mexico clear Laredo. Live trade value and commodity mix from Census, truck volume from BTS, the four bridges, the drive-time radius, and the distribution-plus argument from "Beyond the Gateway."38.8% of border trucksRegional AnalysisPortsLogisticsDaniel Covarrubias & Gastón Cedillo-CamposRead →Four Apartments, Two Countries, and Fifty Years of Asking WhyWhat a tiny Belgian-Dutch town with 30 enclaves reveals about every border on earth, and why 50 years of border scholarship has never been more relevant.30 enclaves · 50 years of ABSBorder StudiesABSUSMCADaniel CovarrubiasRead →The Augmentation GapWhat 2 million AI conversations reveal about the future of work. 52% augmentation, 45% automation, and a strategy gap between what's possible and what organizations are doing.2M conversations · 52% augmentationAIFuture of WorkData StoryDaniel CovarrubiasRead →Building on Trade: Laredo's Billion-Dollar Industrial MomentHow trade momentum and over $1 billion in private capital transformed Laredo's industrial market from 36 million square feet to a projected 61 million.61M SF · $1B+ investedRegional AnalysisIndustrialDaniel CovarrubiasRead →The Periodic Table of PowerWhy the U.S.–Mexico Critical Minerals Deal could really be a technology sovereignty play, embedding the physical substrate of every exponential technology into USMCA.60 minerals · $12B stockpileTechnology SovereigntyCritical MineralsDaniel CovarrubiasRead →What 2025 Taught Me About North America's FutureHow trade policy, AI governance, workforce transformation, energy infrastructure, and continental security became one conversation, and what 2026 will demand.The ConvergenceYear-EndUSMCAAIDaniel CovarrubiasRead →Shared Security, Shared ProsperityThe path forward for North American trade: security and prosperity are inseparable.Paradigm ShiftPolicyDaniel CovarrubiasRead →USMCA 2.0: A Trilateral FrameworkSecurity, technology, and industrial competitiveness ahead of the July 2026 review.$1.6T trade · July 2026 reviewThe FrameworkUSMCADaniel CovarrubiasRead →The Infinity LoopHow perpetual uncertainty became North America's new trade policy, with $127B in hidden costs.$127B hidden costThe ProblemScrollytellingDaniel CovarrubiasRead →9.9 Million Jobs at RiskThe most comprehensive analysis of North American employment vulnerability to USMCA trade disruptions, state by state across the U.S., Mexico, and Canada.9.9M jobs · 3 nationsPillar PageEmploymentDataDaniel Covarrubias & Heleodoro LozanoRead →