NSQ 2 digital - Flipbook - Page 18
A border crossing
is not a critical point.
It is a system that must be designed
By Rodolfo Monarque
When a company evaluates moving part of
its operations to Mexico, one of the first
concerns that often arises is the border. In
many executive conversations, the same
question appears: What happens if the
crossing stops? The concern is
understandable. The border between Mexico
and the United States is one of the most active
commercial corridors in the world. Every day,
thousands of trucks, containers, and cargo
vehicles move between the two countries,
transporting industrial components, finished
goods, and materials that form part of complex
supply chains. However, the way many
organizations interpret that risk is often too
simplistic.
The border does not function as an isolated
point within international logistics. It operates
more accurately as a system that must be
integrated into the full design of the supply
chain. When this system is interpreted
superficially, any delay appears to be a crisis.
When it is understood with
greater precision, the border
becomes simply another
variable within the logistics
architecture.
A substantial portion of U.S. trade now
depends on the constant flow moving through
the Mexican border. That volume does not
move abstractly. It takes shape in very
concrete logistics operations.
The Port of Laredo, one of the primary land
entry points between the two countries,
recorded 2,936,130 truck crossings from
Mexico in 2023. One year later, that figure
surpassed 3,026,632 crossings, according to
the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. This
single port alone accounts for a significant
share of the overland commercial flow
between both economies. These figures
reveal something important. The border is not
an occasional event within North American
logistics. It is a permanent flow operating at
large scale. For that reason, companies with
the most experience in cross-border
operations rarely design their logistics under
the assumption that crossings will always be
perfectly fluid. From the
outset, they assume that
the border introduces a
degree of variability and
build their operational
architecture around that
reality.
“This growth
has consolidated
The scale of commercial Mexico
flow helps explain why this
perspective matters. This as the
growth has consolidated
United States'
Mexico as the United States'
largest trading partner in
largest
goods. Comparing these
figures with other major trading partner
suppliers to the U.S. market
provides further context.
in goods.”
Total goods trade between the United States
and Mexico reached approximately:
$798.8 billion in 2023
$839.9 billion in 2024
$872.8 billion in 2025
Total goods trade between the United States
and Canada reached approximately:
$719.5 billion in 2025
Trade with China declined to:
$414.7 billion in 2025
According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
16
Digital Edition
MARCH 2026
In practice, three
mechanisms tend to
appear consistently.
The first is the presence of
operational buffers. This
means maintaining
strategic inventories or
transit times capable of
absorbing occasional
delays without disrupting
business continuity. When logistical margins
are too narrow, even small variations at the
crossing tend to propagate quickly throughout
the supply chain.
The second mechanism is logistical
redundancy. Mature operations rarely depend
on a single point of entry. Diversifying land
ports or transportation routes allows
companies to redistribute flows when
temporary disruptions arise in one part of the
system.
