IN THE NEWS: TPM25: ‘Chaos’ Erupts as US Tariffs Disrupt Cross-Border Trucking with Mexico, Canada

Journal of Commerce
March 6, 2025
William Cassidy

FROM THE ARTICLE: Truck traffic in Laredo, Texas, surged for weeks until Tuesday, when the Trump administration’s 25% tariff on Mexican imports took effect.

What’s happening is the collection of millions of dollars of duties that many shippers have never had to pay before when importing from Mexico or Canada, another US tariff target.

Logistics providers expect to hear many similar stories as the Trump administration accelerates its trade wars with Mexico, Canada, China and other countries.

Tariff threats and then the imposition of tariffs led to a surge in freight heading toward the US-Mexico border in January and February, causing congestion and delays. Now freight is being delayed as importers try to discern what twist the tariffs might take next.

Late Wednesday, for example, the White House announced that cars and trucks produced in Mexico and Canada would be exempt from the 25% tariffs for one month. That’s likely to lead to a surge in high-value automotive imports in March.

High-value shipments from Mexico and Canada surged in February, pushing up spot-market truckload rates in lanes between Canada, Mexico and the US by double digits.

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“We’ve seen easily 50% to 75% spot rate increases for some hot must-have type items [from Canada],” Paul Brashier, Vice President of Global Logistics at ITS Logistics, said Wednesday.

“It’s almost been similar to what we saw during COVID when shippers would say, ‘just let us know what it costs’ if we could cover a load — they were more worried about getting the shipment than what it would cost them,” Brashier told the Journal of Commerce.

But the uncertainty is costing US importers millions of dollars not only in tariff duties but in delays and last-minute changes in supply chains, logistics providers said.

“Pretty much when Trump was inaugurated, we started fielding a lot more requests for [supply chain] design work, for heavy volume flows inbound to the US from Mexico and Canada,” said Brashier.

Read the full article.