Willacy County moves to join regional trade network with proposed foreign-trade zone

Willacy County officials are hopeful they will offer businesses operating at Port Mansfield and beyond access to a new foreign-trade zone in the coming years.

In August, the county and McAllen Foreign Trade Zone Inc. applied to the federal government to add Willacy County to the existing foreign-trade zone.

“We’re looking forward to it being approved at the federal level and it’s county-wide. So we feel that will also help bring in more businesses, whether it’s from our friends to the South or anywhere for that matter,” Willacy County Judge Aurelio “Keter” Guerra recently told the Rio Grande Valley Business Journal. 

Foreign trade zones are where products or raw materials can be imported into the U.S. and stored without paying tariffs until sold. 

Steep tariffs on global imports have been a key strategy under the Trump Administration, and the next generation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), known as the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), is currently under negotiation. 

Port Mansfield has been recently re-dredged to deepen the port’s central canal for future barges with shipping containers. 

“Over the past several years, we’ve seen an increase in interest by prospective companies seeking to invest at Ports Mansfield,” Mark Garcia, president and CEO of the McAllen Foreign Trade Zone, said in a letter to the U.S. Department of Commerce. “There are also ongoing discussions with Mexican entities, which are considering sending containerized cargo directly to Port Mansfield from Mexico as another option to the Port of Brownsville with more expedited handling for sensitive merchandise.” 

The Port of Mansfield Navigation District owns about 1,700 acres at the port. Willacy County is designated as an empowerment zone in Texas meant to attract more economic development. 

In the meantime, a $50 million wind-powered data center under construction in Willacy County could be the first test for the proposed zone. Materials for the future data center’s computer servers could be exempt from warehousing taxes in the zone until they are installed. 
Other Foreign Trade Zones in the Rio Grande Valley include the Brownsville Navigation District, the Starr County Industrial Foundation, and the Hidalgo County Regional Foreign Trade Zone. There are 35 such zones across Texas.