The Texas
Border.
Texas runs the U.S.–Mexico border. 80% of all border trade crosses its ten land ports, and one of them, Laredo, moves more than the rest combined. Live trade and truck crossings, from Census and BTS.
Texas is the number one exporting state in the country, and its border carries the largest bilateral trade relationship at the state level. That success is also its exposure. Our trilateral vulnerability analysis puts 805,000 Texas jobs in the trade-exposed column, the highest of any state. The same corridor that makes Texas rich makes it the first to feel a tariff shock or a change to the rules of origin.
Watch the auto and machinery lines, because they concentrate both the value and the risk.
The state that runs the border
Texas land ports, by trade value
U.S. Census Bureau, International Trade · Rolling 12 months · May 2025 – Apr 2026Total import and export value through each Texas land port. Laredo carries 56.9% of the state's border trade by itself, with the El Paso Area second. The El Paso Area combines Ysleta, El Paso, and Tornillo.
Texas truck crossings by port
BTS · trailing 12 mo · 4.73M total · share of TexasData sources & methodology
Latest published · public U.S. government data- Trade value by port: U.S. Census Bureau, International Trade, Texas Schedule D land ports, imports + exports, rolling 12 months.
- Truck crossings by port: U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Border Crossing/Entry Data.
- El Paso Area combines Ysleta, El Paso, and Tornillo, matching Texas Comptroller methodology.
- Texas export rank: U.S. Census Bureau state export data.
Covarrubias, D. (2026). The Texas–Mexico Border: Trade and Crossings by Port. https://labs.drdanielcovarrubias.com/texas-border
Live figures are pulled directly from the source APIs at view time; current figures reflect the latest official release on each agency's schedule.
Covarrubias, D. (2026). The Texas–Mexico Border: Trade and Crossings by Port. https://labs.drdanielcovarrubias.com/texas-border.