NM businesses brace for Mexico tariffs

Companies across New Mexico and especially those on the border are bracing for a potentially “catastrophic” economic blow after President Donald Trump vowed to impose tariffs on all products from Mexico. “It’s like threatening Mexico, ‘You better do this,’ and you take a pistol and you point it at your own foot,” said Jerry Pacheco, CEO of the Santa Teresa-based Border Industrial Association and a Journal columnist. Border companies that depend on trade with Mexico will bear the brunt of any tariffs. “We’ve become the cannon fodder on the front line from this action,” Pacheco said. Santa Teresa is New Mexico’s busiest border crossing and accounts for about $2 billion in trade alone annually. The planned tariffs sparked opposition even from usual Trump allies such as Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, who called the action “a misuse of presidential tariff authority,” and the news sent stock markets tumbling, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average closing down roughly 355 points, or 1.4%. Businesses on both side of the border share production lines and integrated supply chains for automobiles, electronics and produce that come through the ports of entry. The border economies are intertwined and affect all types of businesses. “We’re not a manufacturer, but we depend on the manufacturers,” said Lane Gaddy, CEO of W Silver Recycling. The company processes recyclable metal and electronic waste at 11 locations, including Albuquerque and Santa Teresa. “Of our 500 employees, the vast majority are U.S.-employed, so if manufacturing slows down in Mexico, we have reduced head count,” Gaddy said...MORE