Senator Hagerty Talks Tariffs, Stablecoin and Elon Musk's Role in Government

Republican Senator Bill Hagerty of Tennessee discusses his stablecoin legislation, President Donald Trump's actions on trade and tariffs and Elon Musk’s role in the administration.

The panic eased in Laredo, Texas, but the clock is already ticking again.

Customs brokers, freight companies and business owners that operate at the biggest US trade hub rushed to move as much cargo as possible over the past few days, trying to get ahead of new tariffs on Mexican imports threatened by the Trump administration. Then, at the last moment, the White House hit pause, delaying the tariffs by a month.

A brief reprieve — but little relief.

Uncertainty is taking hold among North American businesses that rely on imports, forcing companies to reassess supply chains and operations. The same 25% tariffs threatened for Mexico had also hung over Canada, spurring similar chaos before they, too, were abruptly delayed on Monday hours before they were to take effect. Factories in northern Mexico — some of which opened amid the nearshoring boom of recent years — had rushed to reroute orders, while Canadian officials warned of disruption to industries from auto manufacturing to agriculture.

“Starting Friday, everybody was on pins and needles,” said J.D. Gonzalez, a longtime customs broker in Laredo and president of the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America. In group chats and by phone, brokers struggled to interpret shifting White House statements. “Our clients were calling us, what are our best opportunities? How can we manage this? How are we gonna make payments?”

Laredo took in $197 billion of Mexican imports in 2023 and exported some $123 billion of goods, and it’s hard to overstate how much the city of 250,000 people is oriented around border trade. There are 18-wheelers everywhere, and billboards for logistics companies clutter the view. Restaurants cater to truckers looking for a break after long drives.

From the green Rivian truck he pilots along the streets of Laredo, Gonzalez can point to the international bridges and watch about 12,000 commercial trucks a day traveling between the US and Mexico carrying goods like auto parts, computers and tractors.

Over the weekend before the tariffs were set to take effect, customs brokers — which help importers and exporters make sure they’re in compliance with all the regulations surrounding international trade — and shippers were in constant contact, trading rumors about what was to come and speculating about carve outs and work-arounds. The panic also extended to exporters who anticipated retaliatory tariffs from Mexico.

While many people in the trade view the tariffs as mostly a political negotiating tactic — and that view seemed to be borne out in the most recent back-and-forth — the profound ramifications they would bring if they did take effect has forced the industry to grapple with the risks.

Rahul Oltikar, the president of JAMCO, the largest trade-and-logistics-services company in Laredo, said he worked through the weekend trying to help customers get goods across ahead of the tariffs. His company operates 1.8 million square feet of warehouses on the US side.

“Everything comes through here,” Oltikar said. “These are supply chains that have been implemented over the last 30, 40 years ever since” the North American Free Trade Agreement took effect in 1994. In his first term, Trump renegotiated that deal, which is now known as USMCA.

But Tom Fullerton, a professor at the University of Texas at El Paso who researches border trade, says those supply chains would be at risk of collapse if long-term tariffs take hold.

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