美国国家公共电台 NPR Laredo, Texas, Now No. 1 U.S. Trade Hub, Braces For Trump's Mexico Tariffs（在线收听）

DON GONYEA, HOST:

President Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on all goods imported from Mexico beginning June 10. That has the border city of Laredo, Texas, preparing for a rush of importers trying to get their goods into the country. Texas Public Radio's Reynaldo Leanos Jr. reports.

REYNALDO LEANOS JR., BYLINE: Ernesto Gaytan is the general manager of Super Transport International Laredo, a company founded by his father in Mexico almost 30 years ago. Today he's wearing a black fitted suit in 90 degree Texas heat. Gaytan walks around the operations field.

ERNESTO GAYTAN: This is where a lot of the transloads happen. We move materials from a trailer coming in from the United States going into Mexico. We transfer freight from one - from a U.S. carrier to a Mexico carrier or from a Mexican carrier to a U.S. carrier going northbound. They could be either way.

LEANOS: The international trade at Laredo's port recently catapulted it past Los Angeles to become the number one port in the country.

GAYTAN: Laredo is a town that exists because of the location and the closeness that we have with Mexico and the United States.

LEANOS: About $20 billion worth of goods flowed through during the month of March, mostly automotive parts. President Trump is threatening to implement a 5% tariff on all goods coming from Mexico starting June 10. The president says he'll gradually increase the tariff to 25% if Mexico doesn't do more to stop illegal immigration. Gaytan says a tariff could impact his trucking company and jobs across the country.

GAYTAN: There are companies that 5% is what their margin is going to be. So you're talking about companies that are not going to be able to ship anymore. So what's that going to do? It's going to shrink the capacity. It's going to shrink the market.

LEANOS: Gaytan and other business owners are concerned there will be even longer lines at the ports of entry because many companies might try to double their average of shipments before the June 10 deadline. Laredo has already been experiencing record wait times that can be hours long. This was recently exacerbated when the Trump administration reassigned 300 CBP officers from ports of entry to help process asylum claims. And adding to the fear of the business community has been President Trump's threats to close the border entirely.

GAYTAN: For us, I did the numbers, and we would lose about $270,000 a day if the border shuts down.

LEANOS: At a recent town hall, Gaytan and other local businesses asked CBP if they are ready to handle an increase of shipments before the June 10 tariff deadline.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

BRENDA SMITH: I would tell you not today, but tomorrow.

LEANOS: Brenda Smith is the executive assistant commissioner with the Office of Trade at CBP.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

SMITH: You have got to have your eyes open and your powder dry at all times because the situation changes so quickly.

LEANOS: And that's a problem, says Gerry Schwebel, the executive vice president of IBC Bank based in Laredo. Schwebel worked on NAFTA and the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement. He says a tariff further strains the U.S.'s relationship with Mexico, especially when trying to pass USMCA, also known as NAFTA 2.0.

GERRY SCHWEBEL: This is not good, and it's not in the spirit of open relationships with our largest trading partner, which is Mexico. They will always be our neighbor. We can't be in any way threatening or trying to coerce our partners to do certain things.

LEANOS: Schwebel says border communities like Laredo will be hit hard if the tariffs take effect, but the consumer will ultimately pay the price. Laredo Mayor Pete Saenz is proud his city is now the nation's busiest trade hub and wants to keep it that way, but for that to continue, he wants to see the president separate the issue of trade and immigration.