Speeding up how quickly millions of people and billions of dollars in goods get in and out of America, while protecting the public from dangerous people and materials, could enhance the nation’s global economic competitiveness, according to U.S. officials.
For instance, recognizing the importance of the cross-border flow of $1.6 billion in cargo and hundreds of thousands of travelers each day between the U.S. and Mexico, officials from both countries met in Mexico City April 20 to jointly plan toward improving economic competitiveness and security.
“The economies of Mexico and the United States are deeply integrated and growing traffic requires innovation to efficiently process cargo and travelers along our shared border,” Kevin McAleenan, acting commissioner of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), said.
McAleenan and other U.S. officials met with Mexico’s Secretariat of Finance and Public Credit, through the Tax Administration Service.
“We are both committed to enhancing our trade enforcement efforts to guard against duty evasion and intellectual property rights violations,” McAleenan said in a statement.
Among several items, the officials plan to work bilaterally in the areas of trade and travel facilitation; cooperate on innovative ways to inspect cargo; improve the efficiency of the customs processes to manage risk while also reducing processing times and transactional costs; and harmonize certain data requirements.
Understaffed ports a problem
Also looking to help benefit the U.S. economy is U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM), who released a report suggesting reduced wait times at ports of entry (POEs) in the United States.
As ranking member of the Senate Joint Economic Committee, Heinrich released Economic Impact of Understaffing U.S. Ports of Entry, the April minority staff report suggesting that additional staff could help decrease the “long and unpredictable border wait times” that happen as trade and travelers move through U.S. POEs.
The United States has 328 POEs that include international airports, cargo seaports and land ports for trucks, cars and trains. Every day, 1.1 million people and $5.9 billion in goods legally enter and exit the country at these POEs.
“While estimates vary on the exact cost of border delays to the U.S. economy, research indicates a clear link between additional POE staff, reduced wait times, and economic benefits. Staffing an additional one to three booths or lanes can reduce maximum wait times by up to 25 minutes at some of the busiest POEs. CBP estimates an additional 1,000 POE officers would increase economic activity by $2 billion and add 33,148 new U.S. jobs per year,” according to the report released April 20.
Heinrich pointed out that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security last year was short 961 officers who needed to be hired for POE positions. The cost for these additional officers was roughly $126 million, he said, which is a fraction of the cost of President Donald Trump’s $66.9 billion proposed wall along the southern U.S. border.
“Instead of throwing taxpayers’ money at President Trump’s border wall, we should make smart investments with the goal of improving our economy and facilitating new lawful trade through our ports of entry,” Heinrich said.