Laredo, Texas handled $36.5 billion in cross-border trade in June, a monthly record that beat the mark set just one month earlier. On the same corridor, the share of truckload requests carriers turned down hit 15.19% this week, compared with 3.32% at this point last year.
That gap is the story. Record freight volume moving through a single border crossing, and a capacity market that has tightened so sharply carriers can afford to say no to roughly one load in seven.
Mexico held its position as the largest U.S. trading partner in June at $89.2 billion in two-way commerce, ahead of Canada at $67.9 billion and China at $34.7 billion. Laredo alone accounted for more than a third of all U.S.-Mexico trade for the month, ranking as the busiest international gateway in the country. Chicago O'Hare came second at $35.9 billion, followed by the Port of Los Angeles at $25.8 billion.
The first half of the year produced $199.21 billion in trade through Laredo, the strongest six-month stretch in the crossing's history. What is moving has also shifted. Computer equipment imports rose 153.82% and aircraft parts climbed 58%, alongside the automotive parts, engines and machinery that have long defined the corridor. Port Laredo officials point to advanced manufacturing relocating into North America as the driver, with production networks reorganizing across the U.S., Mexico and Canada.
The tender rejection number is what carriers and brokers should be watching. The Outbound Tender Rejection Index measures the percentage of contracted truckload requests carriers decline. Rejecting freight generally costs a carrier something, so a rising rate signals either that capacity has genuinely thinned or that carriers are passing on contract loads for better-paying spot opportunities. Laredo sat at 5.74% in 2024 and 3.32% in 2025. At 15.19%, the corridor is now running well above the national average.Part of that reflects enforcement pressure specific to this border. Federal action against non-domiciled CDLs and English proficiency violations has pulled drivers out of service throughout the year, and cross-border lanes carry disproportionate exposure to both.
For shippers moving freight through Laredo, the practical implication is that routing guide performance on this corridor is unlikely to hold at rates set before capacity tightened. A 15% rejection rate means a meaningful share of contracted freight is falling through to the spot market at higher cost. For brokers, the same number means securing committed capacity on this lane is worth more than shopping it, and for carriers running Laredo, the pricing leverage sitting in this data is the strongest it has been in at least three years.
