Mexico says Texas truck inspections at border causing freight shipment delays, millions in losses
Mexican Economy Department called on Texas to stop the inspections
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Mexican government officials said Monday that renewed inspections of trucks at the Brownsville-Matamoros crossings in Texas are causing delays of between eight and 27 hours for freight shipments across the border.
The Economy Department said in a statement that inspections are causing "millions in losses for both Mexican and American companies."
"These inspections are causing delays of between 8 and 27 hours in the entry of national cargo transports to Texas, which mainly affects perishable products. Ultimately, American consumers are paying the costs of these policies, so it's in everyone's interest to restore normalcy at the border," the government said in a statement.
It urged Texas to stop the inspections, which began on May 8, noting that an objective of the measures to interrupt migrant smuggling at the border "does not correspond to subnational governments."
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Greg Abbott, governor of Texas, speaks during the Texas Economic Development Corporation Spring Investor Summit in Austin, Texas, Thursday, March 9, 2023. (Photographer: Jordan Vonderhaar/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has claimed such inspections are meant to stop the smuggling of migrants and drugs.
In April 2022, Abbott repealed a similar traffic-clogging immigration order that backed up commercial trucks at the border. He lifted the inspections after reaching agreements with neighboring Mexican states.
A truck carrying a load of cargo from Mexico pulls into the border checkpoint at Brownsville, Texas, after crossing over the Veterans Bridge, visible at left, on Monday, June 7, 2004. (Photo by Brad Doherty/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
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Mexico’s Economy Department said the country will take up the issue in Trade Facilitation Committee of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement in coming days. The agreement requires members to provide clear, quick and honest customs and border inspections.
The United States is a huge importer of Mexican-grown produce.
"In the end, U.S. consumers will be the ones who pay the price for these policies," the department said.
Then-President Trump and President of the United Mexican States Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador sign a joint declaration on the new USMCA agreement in the Rose Garden at the White House on July 8, 2020, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images / Getty Images)
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FOX Business' request for comment from Abbott's office was not immediately returned.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.