North America depends on efficient cross-border trucking. Following a leadership dialogue with CEOs and senior trucking leaders in Mexico City, IRU has been working to ensure that the Canada–Mexico–US trade agreement – known as USMCA in the US, CUSMA in Canada and TMEC in Mexico, and currently up for review – addresses border challenges and long-standing commitments to improve cross-border supply chain operations.
A central component of IRU’s North American Transportation Forum (NATF) leadership dialogue earlier this year was a meeting with Luis Rosendo Gutierrez Romano, Mexico’s Undersecretary of Foreign Trade. He outlined Mexico’s priorities for the TMEC review. His message was clear: North America must preserve the strength of its integrated trade bloc.
The Undersecretary noted that the region represents around 30% of global manufacturing. He also said that 83% of Mexico’s exports to the US currently face zero tariffs.
For Mexico, the goal is to avoid major changes to the agreement related to tariffs and time frames. NATF participants – representing the trucking industry from across the region – highlighted the need for efficient border clearance to avoid costly bottlenecks.
Undersecretary Gutierrez proposed creating a working group, coordinated by NATF, once a diagnostic assessment of conditions at ports of entry had been completed.
