Government and Politics Issues

NAFTA Bottlenecks

The North American Free Trade Agreement has been so successful in promoting trade between the U.S., Mexico and Canada that there aren't enough bridges, rails and docks to handle the goods, trade specialists report. The result is hours-long delays involving billions of dollars worth of products at border crossings.

  • Last year, U.S. trade with Mexico and Canada amounted to $477 billion -- up 13 percent for the year.

  • Experts estimate that delays and other costs of squeezing the flood through border bottlenecks costs the three countries as much as $2.5 billion a year.

  • One study estimated that delays in auto deliveries moving through the Laredo, Texas, crossing cost almost $3 million annually in wasted time, higher labor costs and extra storage expenses.

  • More than $2.5 billion would have to be spent to improve the infrastructure at the dozen worst choke points in all three nations, according to expert estimates.

Some improvements are reportedly on the way -- including rail yards, ship berths and bridges. But many other plans are bogged down by bureaucratic rules or local resistance. Permission to build a new bridge across the Rio Grande, for instance, requires filings with more than 25 government agencies in Mexico and the U.S.

Observers say that insufficient infrastructure is not the sole problem. Agencies from customs to immigration to law enforcement have a hand in inspecting and bogging down border trade.

Source: Anna Wilde Mathews, "NAFTA Reality Check: Trucks, Trains, Ships Face Costly Delays," Wall Street Journal, June 3, 1998.

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