Start of a new produce season at Pharr International Bridge, plus tariffs

PHARR,  Texas (ValleyCentral) —  Partners from both Texas and Mexico celebrated the start of a new produce season at the Pharr international bridge Thursday morning.

The Pharr International Bridge has been facilitating trade for 28 years and is known as the top bridge for produce crossing in the nation.

Meanwhile, the produce industry is facing something different this season: a 25% tariff on Mexican imports. Key players say now is the time to strengthen North American trade.

22 million pounds of fresh produce cross the Pharr bridge every day.

Under the Trump administration, produce from Mexico is facing a 25% tariff.

"One thing is for sure, trade will continue," said Luis Bazan, Pharr International Bridge Director.

Bazan said the U.S. needs to strengthen its relationship with Mexican growers heavily, especially as winter approaches.

"The markets are more volatile than they ever were, but when it comes to the weather, we need Mexico to continue growing these products," said Bazan. "In the United States, unfortunately, when it comes to the winter months, we cannot produce the same amount of product as Mexico."

Meanwhile, one Mexican produce export company, Interenlace, which has been part of the international trade for two decades, said it distributes around 90 thousand loads every year.
However, their loads have dropped by five thousand in 20-25. Alberto Garza with Interenlace believes tariffs may be the reason.

"We have seen that impact, and we think it can be worse," said Garza. "The companies or the industries that handle certain products are the ones that prevail in volumes, but some don't, like the ones that carry tomatoes, strawberries, lemons, but especially tomatoes because of the tariffs."

The Texas International Produce Association said tomatoes have taken the most recent hit with a 17% import duty on them. This means a $10 box of tomatoes from Mexico actually costs $11.70 when it crosses the border.

The produce industry is also facing other challenges, such as labor shortage and the enforcement of the English language proficiency amongst harvesters and truck drivers.

"Our industry has really had to roll with the punches, that is what makes Pharr so important," said Dante Galeazzi, Texas International Produce Association president. "Because while we are dealing with all of those changes in our trade landscape, we are not having to deal with changes crossing our trucks, we are not having to deal with different processes that slow the freight down, we are not having to find new partners."

Galeazzi said that, unlike other products, produce can not afford to put up a fight against tariffs.

"We are not like airplane parts where we stay in a warehouse until someone figures it out, everyone knows if you leave produce out for too many days, it goes bad," said Galeazzi.

As for trade at the Pharr International Bridge, it is expected to continue growing. Its infrastructure expansion is about 70% complete and expected to be done by early 2026.