Borderlands is a weekly rundown of developments in the world of United States-Mexico cross-border trucking and trade. This week: Trump tariffs won’t stop nearshoring investments in Mexico; Deugro USA expands logistics operations in Houston; Titanium Transportation opens Texas brokerage office; and TAM Group opens a location in Mexico City.
While President-elect Donald Trump has promised to levy 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico starting Monday, that likely won’t slow investments and trade growth between the two countries, according to experts.
“Even with the tariff’s taking effect, Mexico will still represent a very attractive option,” Miguel Perez, senior director of cross-border operations and solutions for TA Services, said in an email to FreightWaves.
Mansfield, Texas-based TA Services is a 3PL with operations in Mexico, the U.S. and Canada. The company offers managed transportation, warehousing and fulfillment, multimodal freight brokerage, and cross-border logistics.
During his presidential campaign, Trump said he would levy 25% duties on all imports from Canada and Mexico, as well as an additional 10% tariff on goods imported from China.
The tariffs are aimed at boosting border security, as well as bringing more manufacturing jobs back to the U.S., Trump said.
Perez said Mexico still offers competitive wages across its manufacturing industries compared to the U.S.
“While Mexico’s minimum wage was increased a number of times in 2024 … the Mexican peso did suffer its worst devaluation in 16 years in this same period by 23%, with a potential to continue to slide, counter-balancing the minimum wage increases,” Perez said. “The cost of relocating manufacturing facilities to another country and seizing the labor for them would be too costly. Either way, everyone in the industry (U.S. and Mexico) must prepare for a worst case scenario and hope for the best outcome.”
Mexico has been the top U.S. trading partner for 11 consecutive months and 21 of the past 22 months, according to data from the Census Bureau.
From January through November, U.S.-Mexico trade totaled $776.05 billion, a 6% year-over-year increase compared to the same period in 2023.
Trade between Canada and the U.S. totaled $699 billion for the first 11 months of 2024, a 2% year-over-year decrease compared to the same period in 2023.
China’s trade with the U.S. totaled $532 billion from January through November, a 0.5% decrease from the previous year.
Sam Burkhan, CEO of ITF Group, said he also sees cross-border trade between Mexico and the U.S. continuing to expand.
“Mexico has a population of almost 130 million people, they have geographic proximity, and then they also have a bunch of existing trade agreements, a stable economy, plus Mexico is one of the largest manufacturing hubs,” Burkhan told FreightWaves in an interview. “Specifically aerospace manufacturing right now is booming in Mexico. There’s investments going on in the infrastructure; they are building a lot of new buildings. Mexico will continue to be one of the U.S.’s main trading partners.”
Hazelwood, Missouri-based ITF Group is an asset-based 3PL with more than 300 trucks and 1,500 trailers. The company has more than 500,000 square feet of warehouse space across two distribution centers in Missouri.
Companies should maintain perspective despite the possibility of a sharp increase in tariffs Monday when Trump takes office, Burkhan said.
While the tariffs could present challenges to the global supply chain, many logistics professionals have experience dealing with the impact of increased duties during Trump’s first term in office, he added.
“Do not panic. We experienced these kinds of tariffs in the past,” Burkhan said. “We have to be able to cautiously look at what’s happening in the industry itself, and then how our peers are looking for alternative options and then look for diversifying the sourcing strategies, which is going to be one of the key components.”
Whether or not the Trump administration immediately places 25% tariffs on Mexican and Canadian imports, Burkhan said shippers should always be seeking ways of optimizing their supply chain process.
“It is also good to find some alternative financing options, and I would say, be transparent with their suppliers, proactively talk to them and educate them, [discuss] if there is going to be a possible way to renegotiate certain terms where both of the parties will be able to take care of some of those costs splitting together,” Burkhan said. “Shippers are going to need to consider alternative countries, and also they have to look at their infrastructure and the cost of their logistics. They may try and run away from the tariffs, but they may end up having higher rates and logistics costs if they do that.”
Deugro USA expands logistics operations in Houston
Deugro USA has expanded its warehouse and footprint in the Houston area by adding a second facility at Cedar Port Industrial Park in Baytown, Texas.
Cedar-Port Operations and Logistics Terminal (COLT) is located on 47 acres and features a 165,000-square-foot warehouse space that includes 214 dock doors and 935 trailer parking spaces.
COLT is near the Houston Ship Channel and provides access to major highways in the area.
“Given the consistently high demand for warehouse and laydown space in and around Houston, we are confident that COLT can effectively serve both new and existing clients,” Jeff Smith, head of supply chain logistics at Deugro USA, said in a news release. “Future plans also include the establishment of a Free-Trade Zone at COLT.”
Deugro USA is a division of Frankfurt am Main, Germany-based freight forwarding company the Deugro Group. The company operates 70 locations in 40 countries.
Titanium Transportation opens Texas brokerage office
To capitalize on nearshoring trends in Mexico, Titanium Transportation Group Inc. has opened a freight brokerage office in Irving, Texas.
The facility, Titanium’s first brokerage office in Texas, will be Titanium’s 12th location, including nine in the U.S. and three in Canada. Irving is about 9 miles from downtown Dallas.
“Located in Dallas County, just a short distance from the Mexican border, our new location offers access to key supply chain corridors,” Ted Daniel, CEO of Titanium Transportation Group, said in a news release. “Brokerage services continue to be a key driver of our business and as more businesses embrace nearshoring strategies to optimize costs and reduce supply chain risks in the near term, Titanium is well-positioned to support customers’ logistics needs.”
Bolton, Canada-based Titanium is an asset-based trucking operations and logistics brokerage servicing Canada and the U.S. The company has 850 power units, 3,000 trailers and 1,300 employees and independent owner-operators.
TAM Group opens location in Mexico City
Hong Kong-based TAM Group recently opened an office in Mexico City, aiming to meet growing demand for air cargo services in Latin America.
“The Mexico City office underscores our commitment to exceptional service and our role in Mexico’s dynamic cargo sector,” Fernando Garreton, TAM Group’s vice president for the Americas, said in a LinkedIn post. “We foresee significant trading demand between the region and Asia, particularly China and Southeast Asia.”
TAM Group is a global freight forwarding company with 37 offices in 17 countries. The company employs more than 200 people worldwide.
