Mexican goods worth $1 billion stuck at US border amid migration checks
By Jose Gonzalez and Laura Gottesdiener
CIUDAD JUAREZ (Reuters) -Trade across the U.S.-Mexican border has been slowed over the past week as U.S. authorities have shut down crossings and imposed extra security checks amid an increase in migration, sparking concern in Mexico.
About 8,000 trailers carrying an estimated $1 billion worth of goods have been stranded on the Mexican side over the past week, said Manuel Sotelo, president of the transport association of Ciudad Juarez, a major manufacturing hub across from El Paso, Texas.
Some companies were sending merchandise through entry points in New Mexico and Arizona to avoid the long wait times at the Texas border, Sotelo told Reuters on Monday.
The delays forced a Canadian snowmobile and off-road vehicle manufacturer to suspend production on Monday and Tuesday at three factories in Ciudad Juarez that employ some 9,000 people.
«Due to the waiting times on the international bridges in Ciudad Juarez, we have had a significant reduction in the volume of units that we can export daily,» the Quebec-based company, BRP (NASDAQ:DOOO), said in a statement.
Jesus Salayandía, a representative of the Mexican industry association Canacintra, said he expected other companies in Ciudad Juarez would announce temporary work stoppages if the long wait times at the border continue.
U.S. border authorities suspended cargo processing at one of El Paso's international bridges last week to shift officers to process more migrant arrivals.
Some 500 northbound trucks normally cross that bridge each day, though only 40% are carrying cargo into the United States, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in response to a Reuters request for comment. It added that «suspending services there would have
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