Texas Border Business
By Glenn Hamer, TAB CEO
On Tuesday, Dr. Claudia Sheinbaum was inaugurated as the first female president of Mexico, marking a historic milestone for Mexico and the Texas-Mexico relationship. The Texas Association of Business (TAB) congratulates Dr. Sheinbaum on this achievement. During her inauguration ceremony, President Sheinbaum reflected on the significance of the moment:
“For the first time, we women have arrived to lead the destinies of our beautiful nation. And I say we arrived because I did not arrive alone. We all arrived.” Dr. Claudia Sheinbaum, President of Mexico
I’m delighted to be in Mexico City this week with TAB’s leadership and a delegation of 50 Texas business and government leaders to both witness this pivotal moment and participate in the North Capitol Forum, where we will be proudly flying the Texas flag and advancing our priorities in strengthening Texas’ posture within the broader North American economic ecosystem.
Importantly, we’re here to express our commitment to working closely with President Sheinbaum’s administration to advance policies conducive to business growth and prosperity in Texas and Mexico. As Texas’ number one trade partner, Mexico is critical to Texas’ economic vitality, with around $285 billion worth of trade flowing across our 1,254-mile shared border each year. Likewise, Texas is by far the most critical U.S. state from the Mexican perspective, with more border crossings (28) than all three remaining U.S. border states – Arizona, California, and New Mexico – combined, making the Lone Star State the key gateway for Mexico’s access to the U.S. market and North America.
It is clear at this point that President Sheinbaum’s administration has already initiated constructive dialogue with the domestic and international business community, with markets showing particular optimism toward the nomination of Marcelo Ebrard to serve as President Sheinbaum’s Secretary of Economy. Ebrard, who previously served as Mexico’s Foreign Minister and deeply understands the importance of the North American trade bloc, has been universally well-received in the business community.
President Sheinbaum has a distinguished background as the former Mayor of Mexico City and an environmental engineer who shared a Nobel prize. She also studied at Berkeley, giving Dr. Sheinbaum a unique perspective and on-the-ground experience in the United States that her predecessor lacked. This provides a significant opportunity to foster increased binational collaboration and draw on the strengths and experiences the new administration brings to the table.
Dr. Sheinbaum and her team have supported the conditions that foster nearshoring trends in Mexico, Texas, and North America. Like AMLO, she endorses the USMCA. This is smart. Mexico is now the top trading partner of the U.S., with Canada second and China having slipped to third place. One of the few areas of bipartisan support in the U.S. Congress is recognizing China as our top national and economic security threat. To maintain our global leadership position, we are committed to working with our neighbors to ensure that the North American region becomes less dependent on our adversaries. As we reach the mid-review for USMCA, this is an opportunity to strengthen and ensure all sides abide by the agreement, understanding the agreement has strong bipartisan support in both countries.
It will be imperative for the Sheinbaum administration to maintain a close partnership with Texas as it navigates complex challenges related to cross-border commerce within the broader North American economy, including supply chain resilience, workforce enhancement, infrastructure improvement, and economic development. Establishing a strong relationship with migration is also essential. Although Mexico is not responsible for the Biden administration’s asylum policies that attract dubious claims from around the world, it is evident that Mexico can significantly reduce the flow when it chooses to do so.
Considering all these factors, it is clear to the Texas business community that maintaining a healthy and cooperative relationship with Mexico is advantageous and essential for the continued success of businesses and industries across our state. We recognize the Texas-Mexico partnership’s indispensable nature in supporting our state’s economic prosperity, including through our recent binational working group meeting with Mexico’s top business organizations.
As a Texas private sector representative, TAB has already begun engaging with President Sheinbaum and her team, laying the groundwork for future opportunities to strengthen the Texas-Mexico partnership. TAB’s top priority is investing time into creating a productive partnership with the new Mexican administration. It will be paramount in advancing our shared goals and addressing everyday challenges.
Texas is not merely a spectator to history—we are here to help write the next chapter of the Texas-Mexico relationship. This is why the Texas business community needs to be vigorously engaged and promote cooperation to help drive economic growth and create jobs here in Texas while enhancing prosperity on both sides of the border. By working together, Texas and Mexico can solidify North America as the world’s most prosperous trading bloc, securing mutual success and enhancing our region’s competitiveness, safety, and security.
