EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – Mexican business leaders are taking the initiative to strengthen ties with their American counterparts in anticipation of changes brought about by the incoming Trump administration.
The Juarez Chamber of Commerce and various Mexican trade organizations are spearheading the Binational Business Forum on Wednesday, Jan. 15, at the Blue Flame Building in Downtown El Paso. About a dozen mayors from both sides of the border have been invited to participate.
In a Zoom call on Friday, the Mexican business leaders spoke about the economic interdependence between Juarez and El Paso and other “borderplexes” from Brownsville-Matamoros to San Diego-Tijuana.
When the future president of the United States threatens – or bluffs – about imposing tariffs on Mexico if it doesn’t rein in illegal migration to the U.S., jobs are threatened on both sides, chamber officials said.
But the daylong conference will focus on the positive: Strengthening ties to expand business opportunities and together face any challenges that might come.
“The objective of the forums is to encourage dialogue between entrepreneurs from Mexico and the United States,” said Octavio de la Torre de Steffano, president of the Mexican Confederation of Chambers of Commerce. “The point is, within the framework of the USMCA, identify opportunities for growth and strengthen commerce, services and tourism networks.”
The Mexican business leader said it would be out-of-line for governments to make major economic decisions without input from the business community. “It’s true that treaties are negotiated by foreign ministries and ratified by parliaments, but those treaties make no sense if the principal actors in the economy are not represented,” he said.
De la Torre said the gathering in El Paso is one of five being held along border states the week prior to Trump’s inauguration. The others are in Tijuana, Nogales, Matamoros and Monterrey.
He said Mexican and U.S. business leaders in “sister city” communities communicate on a regular basis, but there’s a need to institutionalize the dialogue.
Each forum is expected to get conversations started on topics of mutual interest for the respective sister cities.
Elizabeth Villalobos, president of the Juarez Chamber of Commerce, said strengthening ties with El Paso is a priority. But there are also issues that need to be brought up.
At Friday’s Zoom call, she talked about concerns from Juarez business interests to a U.S. plan to ban commercial trucks from the Bridge of the Americas in El Paso.
“We have been fighting – not just the chamber but the people and all the other chambers – against the closure of the ‘Free Bridge’ to commerce,” Villalobos said. “That closure would impact us a lot, economically, as a consequence of having to go around El Paso, Texas, to other crossings. That’s one of the points we are going to (raise) at the forum.”
El Paso local and federal officials have been listening to residents near the border crossing about how truck traffic impacts their quality of life. A multimillion-dollar renovation of the structure proposes to excludes such truck traffic in the future.
The City of El Paso said its Economic Department director and staff would be attending the meeting. A city spokesperson also confirmed that El Paso’s new mayor, Renard Johnson, would attend.
