Chambers of Commerce and Industry Groups from Both Sides of the Border Meet in El Paso for First Time Since COVID-19 Pandemic
El Paso, Texas (Border Report) – If Cindy Ramos-Davidson had her way, she’d fly much of her border travel to Washington, DC.
There, delegations will advocate increased personnel and technology at ports of entry, increased federal infrastructure funding for border areas, and immigration reform to fill ever-growing vacancies in services and other industries.
She then put the delegation on another plane and had the same discussion of trade in Mexico City.
“When you look at us, we are El Paso-Juarez-New Mexico, one huge region. We need to do a better job of talking, communicating, and informing each other about what we are doing, how we are doing, and how we need to do things together.El Paso Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
Ramos-Davidson was one of the panelists at the Bilateral Trade Forum sponsored Wednesday by the El Paso Community Foundation and the Mexican Consulate in El Paso. The meeting at the foundation’s offices marked the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic that his leaders from Juarez and El Paso’s businesses have come together. Participants pledged to schedule future summits and fine-tune business advocacy efforts in the region.
The forum highlighted areas with good trade volumes, but things could get better if cross-border cargo inspections can happen faster and more trucks can leave the urban sprawl. There is a possibility
“We have a bunch of new manufacturing plants that want to come in. But if you have 10, 12, 15 new manufacturing plants, maquiladoras If we send the cargo[to the US]our international bridge will collapse,” said Nora Yu, president of the Juarez Customs Brokers Association. “If we want to look to the future, we need more infrastructure in the ports that we have, and we also need to develop ports in Tornillo (Texas) and Santa Teresa (New Mexico).”
Toru Sarayandia, president of the Juarez Chamber of Commerce and Industry, agrees that bottlenecks are not uncommon in Juarez, where freight trucks await their journey to the United States.
“This not only causes losses to the export industry when they have to pay drivers to stand in line, but also increases the risk of further air pollution,” he said.
The US federal government has allocated $600 million to improve the Americas Bridge, and the city of El Paso is also planning improvements around the Ysleta port of entry.
Yu agreed with Ramos Davidson’s call for business leaders in El Paso and Juárez to rally around a common agenda and bring lawsuits to federal authorities in both countries.