Houston Chronicle by Sergio Chapa May 28, 2019
Booming energy exports and shifting patterns in international commerce have made the Port of Laredo the nation’s top center for trade, supplanting the longtime leader, the Port of Los Angeles.
In March, $20.1 billion of combined imports and exports moved through the Texas border city, surpassing the $19.7 billion through the Port of Los Angeles, according to recently released statistics from Commerce Department. Two key factors propelled Laredo ahead of Los Angeles —growing U.S. trade with Mexico, much of which goes through Laredo, and declining trade with China, L.A.’s top trading partner, as tariffs and counter-tariffs in the recent trade war take their toll.
Laredo’s jump to number one was presaged in February, when Mexico surpassed both China and Canada to become the United States’ top trading partner. In February, total trade with Mexico was valued at $47.8 billion, compared to $46.3 billion with Canada and $41.6 billion with China, according to the Commerce Department.
“That was the real harbinger,†said Ken Roberts, chief executive of World City, a Miami company specializing in trade and trade data.
In the first three months of the year, Los Angeles’ trade with China fell by 15 percent compared with the first three months of 2018, according to the Commerce Department. In Laredo, meanwhile, trade with Mexico rose by nearly 2 percent during the same period.
Auto parts and engines account for about half the U.S.-Mexico trade through Laredo, but the rapid increase in energy exports to Mexico is driving the growth. Whether by pipeline, rail or tanker truck, southbound shipments of gasoline, diesel, liquefied natural gas and other products totaled nearly $786 million through March — jump of nearly 70 percent from a year earlier.
This surge comes as Mexico, after the constitutional reforms of 2013, opened its energy markets to foreign investment and competition at the same U.S. oil and gas production climbs to new records.
More:
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/energy/article/Energy-exports-help-Laredo-to-become-top-U-S-13899665.php
