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Nations impose economic sanctions to punish them for various misdeeds. Those misdeeds usually are obvious, and often many people see them as justified. Countries opposed to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have stopped trading with the country. Other examples include international economic embargoes against South Africa during its days of Apartheid and the freezing of liquid assets of countries accused of human rights violations.
Sanctioned governments generally are seen as the bad guys by many observers.
Apparently, Texas is a bad guy now.
Mexico’s Economic Minister Tatiana Clouthier recently announced that a major international rail project will rerouted to bypass Texas, as a protest to Gov. Greg Abbott’s “enhanced” inspections of freight carriers entering the state from Mexico.
The T-MEC Rail Corridor begins at the Pacific port of Mazatlan and originally was drawn to enter the United States at Laredo, running north through Dallas on its way to Chicago and its eventual terminal point at Winnipeg, Canada. The new line will route around Texas, entering the country at Santa Teresa, New Mexico just west of El Paso.
“We are now not going to use Texas,” Clouthier said after Abbott ordered the inspections of freight haulers — after they had passed U.S. Customs inspections at our ports of entry — that caused massive delays and billions in economic losses from spoiled produce, missed deliveries and wasted fuel. Economic analyst Ray Perryman estimated that the inspections cost the state economy about $4.2 billion.
“We can’t … be hostages to someone who wants to use trade as a political tool,” Clouthier said.
Mexico already is Texas’ largest trading partner, with more than $400 billion worth of merchandise crossing our state’s borders every year. The T-MEC line would have added billions more to that benefit.
Rerouting the rails isn’t like normal sanctions, which are temporary and reversible. Blockades and other trade restrictions usually can be lifted, to reward targeted officials for their capitulation. Moving the rails, however, is a permanent move, punishing Texas long after Abbott’s aggressions against Mexico and immigrants ends — or he is replaced with a more reasonable governor.
Obviously, we’ll be paying for those aggressions for years to come. Many trucking companies and independent drivers already had started avoiding the bother and bottlenecks when the inspections began. Federal officials said that during the inspections, commercial traffic at some Texas bridges fell by up to 60% to 70%.
Actions have consequences. Abbott’s efforts to crack down on the border have cost more than $2 billion a year just to bring state troopers and National Guard troops to the border, millions more in border wall construction and billions more in economic losses. In return the inspections produced no arrests, no hidden drugs or migrants, and one prosecution on a minor trespassing charge.
The governor has made his point. Unquestioningly, he is the new face of border security. He doesn’t need to keep proving it, and we hope he stops — before he drives our state’s economy into an irreversible tailspin.
