Borderlands Mexico: US trade with Mexico over $69 billion in April

Borderlands Mexico is a weekly rundown of developments in the world of United States-Mexico cross-border trucking and trade. This week: US trade with Mexico over $69 billion in April; Cold storage provider inks $15M deal with Texas grocery chain; and Hengli Hydraulics opens $325 million plant near Monterrey, Mexico.

US-Mexico trade decreases moderately to $69B in April

Mexico was the top trading partner of the U.S. in April, with two-way commerce totaling $69.7 billion, a 4% year-over-year decline compared to April 2024.

It was the 16th consecutive month and 26th of the past 27 months that Mexico has been No. 1 in trade with the U.S.

Canada ranked No. 2 in trade at $56.6 billion in April. China ranked third at $33.6 billion, followed by Germany at $20.5 billion and Japan at $20.4 billion.

John F. Kennedy International Airport was the No. 1 international U.S. trade gateway in April, totaling $35.1 billion, according to Census Bureau data analyzed by WorldCity.  

Chicago O’Hare International Airport was the second-ranked U.S. gateway for international trade at $30.2 billion during April.

Port Laredo, Texas, was the No. 3-ranked U.S. trade gateway in April, compared to the same month in 2024, when Laredo was the No. 1 gateway for trade. Trade in the month totaled $28.3 billion, a 3% year-over-year increase.

Officials for INRIX, a global provider of transportation data and analytics, said they are seeing positive trends for supply chain and vehicle movements between Mexico and the U.S.

INRIX recently launched Cross-Border Insights, a product designed to track activity between the U.S.-Canada and U.S.-Mexico borders. The cross-border intelligence provided by INRIX aims to help investors analyze supply chains, assess policy impact, and forecast trade-driven risk.

Michael Cottle, vice-president of enterprise business at INRIX, said they are seeing an uptick in northbound vehicles to the U.S.-Mexico border.

“We noticed an uptick of northbound crossings compared to the past for passenger cars on the weekends,” Cottle told FreightWaves in an interview. “What we’re seeing is possibly with the softening of the dollar that products are now cheaper in the U.S., and so it’s led to retailers in those border towns staffing up to have more people there to accommodate the increased demand for shopping in the U.S.”

Kirkland, Washington-based INRIX was founded in 2004. The company processes location-based data — telemetry data from passenger and freight vehicles — into mission-critical transportation applications and intelligence. 

“[The data] goes to logistics companies like Amazon and Trimble that do route calculation and manifest building,” Cottle said. “In the hedge fund world, we can tell you how many people visited T.J. Maxx yesterday across the country, or how many trucks went to a Caterpillar plant. That gives them a kind of early signal of what might be happening financially with those companies instead of having maybe a month’s delay in credit card data.”

In recent months, INRIX has seen a steep decline in vehicle movements to warehouses and other facilities in and around the Port of Los Angeles.

“The Port of Los Angeles is an interesting trend — the month over month comparison of 2024 versus 2025 for these [recent] months, you have a pretty sharp decline of trucks picking stuff up at the port,” Cottle said. “That’s where a lot of products from China and Asia come in.”

Hengli Hydraulics opens $325 million plant near Monterrey, Mexico

Beijing-based Hengli Hydraulics recently opened its first manufacturing facility in Santa Catarina, Mexico.

The plant represents an investment of $325 million, creating over 200 direct jobs. Santa Catarina is located near Monterrey. 

Company officials said they have plans to eventually expand the facility and could eventually employ as many as 800 workers.

Hengli Hydraulics operates in over 20 countries, with 11 manufacturing plants and more than 8,000 employees worldwide. The company produces hydraulic cylinders, pumps, motors and various valves, serving a wide range of industrial industries.

Cold storage provider inks $15M deal with Texas grocery chain

Houston-based We Store Frozen said on Thursday it has finalized a $15 million, three-year agreement with San Antonio-based grocery chain H-E-B.

 The deal covers over 7,000 pallet positions dedicated to frozen produce storage and distribution.

“Since our roots run deep in Texas, we are excited to expand our relationship with the No. 1 Texas grocery retailer, H-E-B,” Omri Shafran, CEO of We Store Frozen, said in a news release. “This partnership represents our continued commitment to innovation, service excellence, and supporting the growing needs of leading retailers.” 

In addition to storage services, We Store Frozen is expanding its frozen transportation capabilities as part of the agreement. The company will provide end-to-end transportation between the processing facilities and its cold storage centers for H-E-B.

We Store Frozen is a provider of frozen and refrigerated storage solutions, servicing a range of food manufacturers, importers and national retailers.

H-E-B operates more than 435 grocery retail stores throughout Texas and northern Mexico. 

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