The Texas-Mexico Border
$620.8 billion in two-way trade. 11 land ports. 1,254 miles of shared border.
Data current as of 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau (USA Trade Online) / BTS / TCBEED, TAMIU
Total Trade
$0.0B
Texas land border trade with Mexico (2025)
#1 Port
Laredo
57% of Texas land port trade
Truck Crossings
~0.0M
Total inbound from Mexico, all Texas ports (2024 est.)
Bridges
0
International crossings (TxDOT)
One trade system.
Continental → State → Corridor
Texas Land Ports of Entry
Laredo outranks the other ports on trade value
Texas land ports of entry, ranked by total trade value (2025).
Laredo handles 57% of all Texas land port trade. El Paso Area surged to $147.5B in 2025, driven by Ysleta’s growth as a major commercial crossing.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, USA Trade Online (2025 full year). Truck crossings: BTS (2024).
Binational Corridors
Laredo-Nuevo Laredo leads all five border corridors
$354.6B (2025)
Census Bureau (2025)
Logistics, manufacturing, automotive
$147.5B (2025)
Census Bureau (2025)
Electronics, automotive, medical devices
$44.9B (2025)
Census Bureau (2025)
Electronics, agriculture, mineral fuels
$43.4B (2025)
Census Bureau (2025)
Automotive, iron/steel, electronics
$22.2B (2025)
Census Bureau (2025)
Petroleum, electronics, plastics
Border Commerce
Energy is the only thing Texas exports more than it imports
Texas imports manufactured goods and exports energy and capital equipment. The asymmetry tells the supply chain story.
Imports ($B)
Exports ($B)
Machinery & Parts
Vehicles & Parts
Electrical Equipment
Mineral Fuels / Oil
Plastics & Articles
Optical / Medical
Mineral Fuels is the one row where exports exceed imports — that's the Texas energy story. Machinery, vehicles, and electronics flow north as finished goods assembled in Mexican maquiladoras.
Commodity data: approximate 2024 category proportions.
Laredo fills more space than the other ten ports combined
Rectangle area proportional to 2025 trade value. Laredo dominates the visual space at $354.6B.
85% of Texas border trade moves by truck
85% of Texas border trade moves by truck. That's over $527 billion on wheels.
Source: BTS Transborder Freight Data, U.S. Census Bureau. Commodity breakdown approximate, based on 2024 proportions applied to 2025 totals. Full 2025 commodity detail pending.
Trade Leadership
Laredo handles 57% of Texas land port trade
Laredo handles 57% of all Texas land port trade. $354.6 billion flows through two commercial bridges in a single corridor. No other inland port in the Western Hemisphere matches that throughput.
That position reflects decades of infrastructure investment, a binational customs brokerage ecosystem of 500+ licensed firms, and geographic positioning at the midpoint of the USMCA trade corridor connecting Monterrey's industrial base to I-35 and the U.S. interior.
The result: a corridor so efficient that 42 U.S. states route supply chains through it.
Cross-Border Partners
Four Mexican states anchor the manufacturing base
Texas faces four Mexican states across the border. Together, they form one of the most productive manufacturing regions in the world.
Four states employ nearly 3 million IMMEX workers
Together: ~1.1 million IMMEX manufacturing workers across four states.
One of the largest concentrated manufacturing workforces on the planet.
Nuevo León
Monterrey (connected via Colombia Solidarity Bridge, 150 miles inland)
Chihuahua
Ciudad Juárez
Tamaulipas
Nuevo Laredo, Reynosa, Matamoros
Coahuila
Piedras Negras, Ciudad Acuña
Source: INEGI, IMSS, IMMEX data.
Physical Infrastructure
28 crossings span 1,254 miles of border
28 international crossings along 1,254 miles.
El Paso Area(6 crossings)
Del Rio / Eagle Pass(3 crossings)
Laredo(4 crossings)
Rio Grande Valley(11 crossings)
Source: TxDOT Border Crossings Guide (2021). Includes bridges, dam crossings, and one ferry.
Data Sources & Methodology
Last updated: March 2026
Live trade data: U.S. Census Bureau International Trade API, port-level imports and exports. Rolling 12-month totals updated daily from the most recent Census release.
Live crossing data: U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Border Crossing/Entry Data (SODA API). Rolling 12-month truck crossings by port.
Demographic data: U.S. Census Bureau (2024 estimates), Texas Workforce Commission, INEGI, IMSS, IMMEX.
Infrastructure: TxDOT Texas-Mexico Border Crossings Guide (2021). 28 international crossings including bridges, dam crossings, and one ferry.
Port groupings: El Paso Area combines El Paso, Ysleta, and Fabens Census-designated ports, matching the Texas Comptroller's methodology.
Mode of transport: 85% truck, 12% rail, 3% other based on BTS Transborder Freight Data (stable year-over-year).
This dashboard presents curated data for contextual understanding. Live indicators () denote sections fed by real-time government APIs. All other figures are from published reports and updated periodically.
Live · Bureau of Labor Statistics · Monthly
Trade is the payroll
Transportation and warehousing employment across the 4 Texas border metros. When crossings slow, these are the paychecks that feel it first.
■ Laredo · ■ El Paso · ■ McAllen · ■ Brownsville · BLS State & Area Employment, Transportation & Warehousing
From the Columns
All Border Economics writing →Mar 30, 2026
Four Apartments, Two Countries, and Fifty Years of Asking Why
By Daniel Covarrubias, Ph.D. In a small town straddling the border between Belgium and the Netherlands, there s an apartment building with two front doors that open into the same atrium. [ ]
Feb 25, 2026
Building on Trade: Laredo’s Billion-Dollar Industrial Moment
By Daniel Covarrubias, Ph.D. In 2018, Laredo’s industrial market looked much as it had for years. The city’s inventory of warehouse and logistics space ranged from 36 to 40 million [ ]
Nov 19, 2025
Beyond the Gateway: Why Laredo s Next Chapter Is Distribution, Not Just Transit
By Daniel Covarrubias, Ph.D. Gastón Cedillo-Campos, Ph.D. Every day, close to 10,000 northbound trucks cross through Laredo carrying billions in merchandise: automotive parts, electronics, machinery, and consumer goods flowing [ ]
Cite this dashboard
Covarrubias, D. (2026). Texas-Mexico Border Trade Intelligence. Trade, Tech & Data Lab, Texas A&M International University. https://labs.drdanielcovarrubias.com/texas-border
