He closed his store after years of threats. Why Mexico's extortion problem is getting worse
The owner hung up and didn't answer the phone again for days. But when another call came the following week, in a surge of courage and indignation the owner told the caller he wouldn't pay, that the money demanded would have been half the store's daily income. 'Well, prepare to face the consequences ,' the voice said.
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New York Post
an hour ago
- New York Post
Trump's Aug. 1 tariff deadline is set in stone, Lutnik says: ‘No extensions, no more grace periods'
President Trump's 'Liberation Day' tariffs — set to kick in Friday — are set in stone this time and will not be delayed again, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Sunday. 'No extensions, no more grace periods. Aug. 1, the tariffs are set; they'll go into place. Customs will start collecting the money, and off we go,' Lutnick said on 'Fox News Sunday.' 'Obviously, after Aug. 1, people can still talk to President Trump. I mean, he's always willing to listen, and between now and then, I think the president is going to talk to a lot of people. Whether they can make him happy is another question.' Trump announced a 10% baseline tariff rate on all imports to the US and announced a set of customs rates against virtually every country on the planet during his April 2 'Liberation Day' push. The customized tariff rates were slated to take effect on April 9, but then got delayed 90 days and then postponed again until Aug. 1. 3 Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said there won't be a grace period for the Aug. 1 tariff deadline. Fox News 3 President Trump's 'Liberation Day' tariffs are set to kick in on Aug. 1 for countries that didn't cut a deal with him. Getty Images In the time since, Trump has announced preliminary trade deals with the United Kingdom, Vietnam, Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines. Additionally, the Trump administration reached a tariff truce with China and set an Aug. 12 deadline to cut a broader deal. Lutnick stressed that Trump is prioritizing the 'big economies' right now. That includes the European Union. Trump met with European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen on Sunday during his four-day trip to the United Kingdom. 'We set the table. The team sets the table. But Donald Trump does his negotiations by himself,' he emphasized. The EU is a bloc of 27 countries that, taken together, is one of America's largest sources of trade. Negotiations with the EU have proven to be lengthy and tricky for Trump. Trump has a variety of tariffs in place now, such as a 25% rate on automobiles, aluminum, and steel, as well as 25% on imports from Canada and Mexico that don't comply with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. He's also recently mused about jacking up tariffs on Canada and Mexico. Lutnick touted the revenue gains from those tariffs. 3 President Trump has endeavored to overhaul US trade relations during his second term. AP 'What's going to happen is very few products are actually going to move in price,' he predicted. 'And basically $700 billion, $800 billion, maybe it's possible we get near a trillion dollars of revenue, will come into the United States of America, reducing our deficit.' 'What do you think is paying for no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, no tax on Social Security, right?' he added. 'I think if you take a look at the whole thing, it's going to be fantastic.' Trump has also flexed tariffs in the geopolitical realm. On Saturday, he spoke with the leaders and Cambodia and Thailand, informing them that US trade negotiations will stop unless they cease fighting over a long-contested section of the border. On July 15, the president also threatened Russia with 100% secondary tariffs on Russian oil if it fails to make a deal with neighboring Ukraine. That threat could complicate US trade relations with China and India in particular, which have been taking advantage of cheap Russian oil due to the sanctions on Moscow.
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Yahoo
Borderlands Mexico: Experts say US tariffs negatively impact businesses, consumers
Borderlands Mexico is a weekly rundown of developments in the world of United States-Mexico cross-border trucking and trade. This week: Experts say US tariffs negatively impact businesses, consumers; CTPAT Informational Conference draws over 400 in Laredo; and TP Trucking and Logistics opens transload facility in Texas. Experts say US tariffs negatively impact businesses, consumers The Trump administration has made bringing jobs back to the U.S. a central part of its economic agenda, particularly through the use of tariffs on imported goods. In his second term, President Donald Trump and his cabinet has imposed tariffs on goods from more than 90 countries, along with adding duties to steel, aluminum, copper and auto imports. While the impact on the job market has been a subject of debate, entrepreneur and business owner Sarah Wells said policy makers should take more consideration into the affect tariffs are having on U.S. companies and consumers. Wells is the owner of Sarah Wells Bags, an online seller of designer breast pump bags and backpacks. She said her Fairfax, Virginia-based business has had to take on added costs from U.S. tariffs, which is affecting her company's bottom line. 'We contribute to the economy, our ability to thrive and function in the economy, all of these jobs are equally important,' Wells said on Thursday during a webinar titled 'The impact of tariffs on the consumer.''I think it's really important to look at these issues too when we're looking at the economy, not just looking at whether or not we can get manufacturing jobs, but remembering the many millions of jobs that are behind small business and importing, supply chain, everything that goes into it, my warehouse, my carriers, my designers, everything along the line and making, again, the public very aware of that side of this coin as well.' The webinar was hosted by the National Association of Importers and Exporters of the Mexican Republic. The Mexico City-based organization focuses on promoting the development and strengthening of bilateral relations between Mexico and its global trading partners. Along with Wells, the webinar included Jonathan Gold, vice president of supply chain and customs policy at the National Retail Federation. The webinar was moderated by Jorge Canavati, principal at J. Canavati & Co. LLC, a San Antonio-based company that provides international logistics and trade consulting. 'The tariffs aren't just impacting the U.S. consumers,' Gold said. 'They're impacting U.S. manufacturers as well, which is the other side of the coin here. Because first and foremost, you're making it more expensive for manufacturers to produce here in the United States, because again, you're hitting the inputs to production.' Canavati said he recently had to help one of his clients find a way to lessen the impact of tariffs on one of their shipments from a factory in China. 'A customer of mine who is in Mexico, a small business, she sells on Amazon from Mexico in the U.S., and her product was caught at a port in China port … $11,000, $12,000 worth of inventory,' Canavati said. 'The tariff was going to be almost $26,000. The customer didn't know what to do. What we did was, when we got to the Port of Los Angeles, I told the custom house broker, cancel the entry. And we put the product into a foreign trade zone with a bonded carrier. Then we sent it to Mexico over the road, where it is now being sold slowly, a little bit more expensive, but the day was saved. But this is the kind of issue that we're seeing every single day.' Sarah Wells Bags, founded in 2013, is a small, family-run business with a global clientele. The warehouse for the products is in Virginia. Her employees and contract workers are Americans, but her products come from Asia. Wells said she tried sourcing her products from U.S. factories, but the costs were unsustainable to her business. 'As an American living and working in Fairfax, it would not only be a joy to manufacture here locally, it would be a lot easier,' Wells said. 'I would have a lot less supply chain to work with, I would have a lot less time, and I would have more control and have more input into the process. It is just not attainable.' Wells said the U.S. manufacturing sector has labor and production issues that make it difficult for small business owners to produce locally. 'I have been met with the same messages from the very few U.S. manufacturers in the handbag space, 'there's not enough labor,' or 'we can't take it to scale,' she said. Wells said perhaps one of the biggest hurdles for bringing more manufacturing back to the U.S. is that most of the raw materials that go into making her backpacks comes from abroad. 'This backpack alone — and we have a hundred SKUs (stock keeping units) – requires 15 different suppliers from China for every little zipper, metal piece, fabric inside and out, insulated in specialty compartments we have,' Wells said. 'Even if we could find someone in the U.S. to do the final labor sewing of these textile materials, everything would have to come from abroad and be subject to these tariffs, which is still costing us. So that has not been a solution for us.' CTPAT Informational Conference draws over 400 in Laredo The Laredo Motor Carriers Association recently collaborated with officials from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to host a CTPAT (Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism) Informational Conference event in Laredo, Texas. The July 9 event attracted over 400 attendees from Laredo and northern Mexico, underlining the importance of international trade and logistics collaboration in the region, Jerry Maldonado, chairman of LMCA, said. Guests at the conference included Laredo Mayor Victor Treviño and Melissa Peña, representing Congressman Henry Cuellar's office. CBP recently opened a new CTPAT field office at the World Trade Bridge in Laredo, the seventh field office in the U.S. The next closest office is in Houston. CTPAT certification serves as sort of a TSA Pre-Check for freight moving across international borders. Carriers and shippers that receive that designation can move more quickly across international lines due to their classification under CTPAT. Maldonado said trade stakeholders in Laredo began talking about bringing a CTPAT field office to the city about 7 years ago. 'As the No. 1 port in the U.S. and Mexico, this is vital to promote more companies to join CTPAT,' Maldonado told FreightWaves. 'When the shipper and the transportation company are both or the whole supply chain is CTPAT, it helps speed things up at the border. One huge advantage is the use of the FAST (Free and Secure Trade) lanes at the World Trade Bridge; the expansion of the World Trade Bridge will have two dedicated lanes directly to the FAST lanes.' During the conference, CBP introduced the leadership of the new CTPAT office. CTPAT Director Manuel Garza and supervisor Cindy McCorkle also led a presentation detailing the office's goals, current initiatives and long-term plans. Several CBP representatives also participated in the conference, including FAST Program Supervisor Ricardo Martinez, who emphasized the advantages of the FAST program and encouraged businesses to get involved. CBP officer Gustavo C. Vila Cruz shared critical information on managing HAZMAT loads, while officer Pedro Hernandez offered insights into cabotage regulations, Maldonado said. Maldonado hopes more carriers will join the CTPAT program now that the field office has opened in Laredo. 'There are many of us in the program now, we hope to increase participation by at least 80% to 100%,' Maldonado said. TP Trucking and Logistics opens transload facility in Texas TP Trucking and Logistics recently opened a 140,000-square-foot transload facility in Pasadena, Texas, about 14 miles outside of Houston, according to Woodworking Industry News. The 7-acre facility includes 16 docks, as well as two inside loading docks for flatbed trucks. The transload center also has an open switch rail track, allowing for bulk railcars, open-top gondolas, center beams, flat cars, and box cars. Central Point, Oregon-based TP Trucking and Logistics is a privately owned carrier specializing in handling flatbed freight. The company has 211 power units and 164 drivers, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. The post Borderlands Mexico: Experts say US tariffs negatively impact businesses, consumers appeared first on FreightWaves. Sign in to access your portfolio
Washington Post
13 hours ago
- Washington Post
Here's how a major Mexican tomato exporter is affected by Trump's 17% tariff
AJUCHITLAN, Mexico — The Trump administration's decision to impose a 17% duty on fresh tomatoes imported from Mexico has created a dilemma for the country providing more tomatoes to U.S. consumers than any other. The import tax that began July 14 is just the latest protectionist move by an administration that has threatened dozens of countries with tariffs, including its critical trading partner Mexico. It comes as the Mexican government tries to also negotiate its way out of a 30% general tariff scheduled to take effect Aug. 1. While the impacts of the tomato tariff are still in their infancy, a major grower and exporter in central Mexico shows how a tariff targeting a single product can destabilize the sector. Green tomato plants stretch upward row after row in sprawling high-tech greenhouses covering nearly six acres in the central state of Queretaro, among the top 10 tomato producing states in Mexico. Climate controlled and pest free, Veggie Prime's greenhouses in Ajuchitlan send some 100 tons of fresh tomatoes every week to Mastronardi Produce. The Canadian company is the leading distributor of fresh tomatoes in the U.S. with clients that include Costco and Walmart. Moisés Atri, Veggie Prime's export director, says they've been exporting tomatoes to the U.S. for 13 years and their substantial investment and the cost to produce their tomatoes won't allow them to make any immediate changes. They're also contractually obligated to sell everything they produce to Mastronardi until 2026. 'None of us (producers) can afford it,' Atri said. 'We have to approach our client to adjust the prices because we're nowhere near making that kind of profit.' In the tariff's first week, Veggie Prime ate the entire charge. In the second, its share of the new cost lowered when its client agreed to increase the price of their tomatoes by 10%. The 56-year-old Atri hopes that Mastronardi will eventually pass all of the tariff's cost onto its retail clients. Experts say the tariff could cause a 5% to 10% drop in tomato exports, which last year amounted to more than $3 billion for Mexico. The Mexican Association of Tomato Producers says the industry generates some 500,000 jobs. Juan Carlos Anaya, director general of the consulting firm Grupo Consultor de Mercados Agrícolas, said a drop in tomato exports, which last year amounted to more than 2 billion tons, could lead to the loss of some 200,000 jobs When the Trump administration announced the tariff, the Commerce Department justified it as a measure to protect U.S. producers from artificially cheap Mexican imports. California and Florida growers that produce about 11 million tons would stand to benefit most, though most of that production is for processed tomatoes. Experts believe the U.S. would find it difficult to replace Mexico's fresh tomato imports. Atri and other producers are waiting for a scheduled review of the measure in two months, when the U.S. heads into fall and fresh tomato production there begins to decline. In reaction to the tariff, the Mexican government has floated the idea of looking for other, more stable, international markets. Mexican Agriculture Secretary Julio Berdegué said Thursday that the government is looking at possibilities like Japan, but producers quickly cast doubt on that idea, noting the tomatoes would have to be sent by plane, raising the cost even more. Atri said the company is starting to experiment with peppers, to see if they would provide an option at scale. President Claudia Sheinbaum said recently her administration would survey tomato growers to figure out what support they need, especially small producers who are already feeling the effects of a drop of more than 10% in the price of tomatoes domestically over fears there will be a glut in Mexico.
