Freight forwarder Kuehne+Nagel to open new site at Texas-Mexico border

By Anastasiia Kozlova

(Reuters) - Swiss logistics group Kuehne und Nagel said on Tuesday it would open a new road logistics facility in Texas, close to the Mexican border, to meet growing demand for customs support between the United States and Mexico.

Earlier in March, U.S. President Trump imposed 25% tariffs on all imports from Mexico and Canada, then offered a month-long reprieve on goods that comply with the USMCA, a regional trade agreement.

When asked by Reuters if the move to open the site was linked to Trump's increasingly protectionist trade policies, Kuehne und Nagel said it was not directly related.

It added, however, that the new site in Laredo, Texas, would help address the increased need for cross-docking and customs brokerage at the U.S.-Mexican border. Cross-docking is the practice of delivering goods directly to a customer without storage.

Kuehne und Nagel said the site would help customers navigate the complexities of "near-shoring", which is when companies manufacture or source products sold in the U.S. closer to home to speed up deliveries, cut costs and avoid trade issues that have plagued global supply chains in recent years.

Retailers and consumer goods companies such as Walmart and Nestle, for instance, have shifted to more near-shoring.

The new site will be fully operational from mid-April.

(Reporting by Anastasiia Kozlova in Gdansk. Editing by Richa Naidu and Mark Potter)