Mexico needs to improve and expand its transportation infrastructure to increase its economic competitiveness , in order to respond to the constantly changing trade landscape, particularly with U.S. tariff policy, but also to respond to the flow of the domestic market , lawmakers agreed.
Within the framework of the 50th National Index Convention of the National Council of the Maquiladora and Export Manufacturing Industry (National Index) , Alejandro Murat, president of the Foreign Relations Commission of the Senate of the Republic , emphasized that rail transport must be developed, as is being done in the north of the country, with the Saltillo-Monterrey train.
He explained that this infrastructure was necessary and essential for “business, but in the south of the country this line became an Interoceanic Corridor.”
In the Legislators panel , Murat said this was achieved because legislation was passed for the Mexican railway sector, “because what we want is to continue creating that environment so investment continues.”
For his part, Waldo Fernández, president of the Senate’s United States-Mexico-Canada Treaty (USMCA) Commission, emphasized that there is transportation infrastructure that can be leveraged, such as an airport in Agualeguas, Nuevo León, which was built more than 30 years ago so that former Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari could vacation at a property he owned in that state.
However, to take advantage of facilities like this, legal certainty and tax incentives are necessary . In addition, guarantees in the supply of water and electricity are needed to create conditions for businesses to operate effectively.
Along these lines, he highlighted the Economic Development Hubs for Well-being , promoted by the federal government and designed to foster investment and economic development in strategic regions of the country, aligned with Plan Mexico . Some of them have a logistical focus , accelerating the flow of foreign capital through the nearshoring phenomenon (relocation of production lines).
Manufacturing “without brakes”
Humberto Martínez Cantú, president of Index Nacional, pointed out that the Manufacturing, Maquiladora and Export Service Industry (IMMEX) program is advancing, so much so that 50,000 trucks cross the Mexican border into the United States every day , and he emphasized that “we are the number one customer of customs.”
In an interview with T21, he explained that these crossings are made from the border of Tijuana, Baja California, to Matamoros, Tamaulipas, on a constant basis, although it is also cyclical. “It depends on the seasons. For example, right now Christmas is coming and we start shipping more, and then it drops, and then the hot season comes and it picks up again,” he added.
Martínez indicated that in Nuevo Laredo alone, 16,000 trucks pass through daily, and between Reynosa and Matamoros, approximately 20,000 to 25,000 trucks pass through, “almost 50% of all the country’s exports.”
“Baja California, Chihuahua, and all those northern states are also contributing significantly, especially Ciudad Juárez and Tijuana,” he concluded.
Comment and follow us on X: @Eliseosfield / @GrupoT21
