CANACAR truck strike halts Mexico freight, Nuevo Laredo at risk

Mexican trucking companies launched an indefinite nationwide strike Monday, targeting demonstrations at the busiest freight hubs on the U.S.-Mexico border — including Nuevo Laredo, which sits across from Laredo, Texas, the leading inland port of entry in the United States.

The National Chamber of Freight Transportation (CANACAR) and allied trucking organizations called the action. Protest sites span Mexico's core logistics geography: Nuevo Laredo, Reynosa, Monterrey, Tijuana and Mexico City. The format is truck convoys and vehicles parked along highways, near logistics facilities and at other strategic freight locations. Organizers say the protests will be peaceful, but traffic delays and interruptions to freight movements remain possible.

What are the truckers demanding?

The grievances are specific, and they've been building. CANACAR President Augusto Ramos Melo said trucking companies have grown increasingly frustrated with cargo theft, violence against drivers, deteriorating highways, excessive towing fees and regulatory burdens.

There's a fiscal trigger too. The organizations are protesting proposed changes to Mexico's 2027 fiscal package that would reduce eligibility for a tax credit covering certain highway toll expenses. In other words, the government wants to shrink a toll relief mechanism while carriers say the cost base is already unbearable.

What does this change for cross-border shippers?

Mexico's trucking industry moves automotive parts, manufactured goods, agricultural products and other freight between Mexico and the United States. An extended strike could disrupt those cross-border supply chains directly.

The immediate exposure is Nuevo Laredo. Freight moving through the corridor faces potential delays because it is one of North America's busiest commercial routes and the gateway tied to Laredo's inland port status. Reynosa and Tijuana carry similar border-crossing risk for Texas and California trade flows.

The commercial consequences stack up fast: delayed shipments through major Texas and California gateways, and rising transportation costs for U.S. importers and manufacturers if capacity tightens or routes shift.

Will the government force a resolution?

Not so far. Mexico's Interior Ministry urged CANACAR to return to negotiations, saying several other transportation organizations had agreed to talks aimed at preventing disruptions to highways and commercial traffic. CANACAR maintained its call for demonstrations anyway.

That standoff defines the timeline question. The duration of the protests and their impact on commercial border crossings remained unclear Monday.

For shippers and forwarders with freight in transit, the practical picture is this: an open-ended strike, protests parked at five named hubs, no negotiated settlement on the table, and a government still calling for talks. Cross-border planners should expect schedule slippage at the affected crossings until CANACAR and the Interior Ministry reach terms — or until the toll-credit proposal in the 2027 fiscal package gets revisited.