RIO GRANDE CITY, Texas (Border Report) — Sam Vale’s family has owned the Starr-Camargo International Bridge for decades in this remote border town in Starr County, Texas.
They were elated last year when they received congressional and presidential approval to expand the bridge from two to six lanes.
Now, as president of the Starr-Camargo Bridge Company, Vale is worried he might have to alter his plan designs after President Donald Trump announced 25% tariffs on steel Monday.
Vale, 82, spoke with Border Report on Tuesday at the company’s new offices next to the bridge in Rio Grande City. He said the tariffs were more harmful than helpful.
“You’re punishing the wrong people,” he said.
“It’s useless. It’s just a tax. It’s just like, you know, ‘I got to pay more money to do the same thing I did yesterday,'” said Vale. “You’re just increasing the cost of doing business with no additional benefits.”
Vale sits on the boards of the nonprofits Border Trade Alliance, and Mexican Border Trade Alliance.
He says the Trump’s tariffs on steel, as well as a 25% tariff on imports of aluminum, will hurt the South Texas border region economically.
This could also affect maquiladoras — manufacturing plants that operate on both sides of the Rio Grande — especially automotive producers that depend on steel.
“The pickup truck that they crossed in Laredo to San Antonio. They start with the frame on one side of the country of the border. They send it to the other side of the border, and they do anywhere from 8 to 12 trips across the border to have the efficient part of the material added,” Vale said.
In Pharr, the border town with the country’s No. 1 commercial crossing for fresh produce, large steel refrigerators are also used to warehouse shipments.
Dante Galeazzi, president of the Texas International Produce Association, told Border Report the tariffs could affect those that are just beginning to build, but he doesn’t believe the they will affect his industry too much since many warehouses are well-established.
“I don’t believe we are anticipating an impact as far as the fresh produce industry,” Galeazzi said. “That impact would likely be felt by those who were building facilities, but that would be a very small percentage of our folks.”
Earlier this month, Trump announced and then delayed for a month 25% tariffs on all goods from Mexico and Canada. On Monday, he announced the 25% tariff on steel and aluminum tariffs from all countries.
U.S. goods and services trade with Mexico totaled over $855 billion annually in 2022, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. The United States imported almost $455 billion in goods from Mexico in 2022, that was up almost 20% from 2021.
Vale says the pending tariffs on Mexico are Trump’s response to immigration concerns about the border, and Vale feels the punishment is misdirected.
“The problem is, they are not attacking the problem. They are simply blasting a shotgun cell out there. And you know why shotguns work? Because they send a lot of pellets all over the place, and then you don’t have to be so good of a shot,” he said.
Trump has said Mexico must do more to stop immigrants from illegally crossing the Southwest border, and from preventing drug cartels from sending illegal products into the United States.
Vale says his company has even built a concertina fence around the Starr-Camargo International Bridge “to help out Border Patrol.” And he allows them to patrol on his property.
On Tuesday, a Border Patrol agent was stationed under the bridge and greeted Vale warmly.
Vale’s bridge has permission to expand up to 14 lanes in the future but that’s not on the table right now.
Right now he says he is just trying to figure out how to best build lanes beside the existing steel structure, which is nearly 60 years old, and to keep the cars and trucks rolling across.
Sandra Sanchez can be reached at [email protected].
