“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.”

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 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.

“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.”

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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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.

The Laredo Motor Carriers Association recently hosted a CTPAT Informational Conference event in Laredo, Texas. (Photo: LMCA)

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.

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