International Trade Law News

There is a new blog for those interested in Mexico -related trade and business issues. The Mexico Law Blog is published by my colleague John Dorsey in Strasburger & Price's Austin, Texas office. John is a corporate attorney whose practice focuses on cross-border transactions involving Mexico and other countries in Latin America.

John recently published an interesting post that should be of concern to U.S. manufacturers with maquiladora operations in Mexico and others that import goods from Mexico:

"In yet another version of the old Trojan Horse trick, Mexican drug gangs are trying to bring contraband into the United States by slipping it into U.S.- and Canada- bound export shipments of Mexican businesses, according to a Reuters report. Businesses targeted by the gangs include maquiladoras and other high volume exporters.

The report said that in May 2008, Mexican army troops searching a subsidiary of Sharp Corp. just south of Tijuana (in Rosarito) found approximately 1.5 tonnes of marijuana concealed in a Canada-bound truck behind boxes carrying television screens. Carlos Castro, head of Mexico's national council of maquiladora plants, said in the report there had been at least two other recent cases where gangs sought to penetrate legitimate export shipments with contraband.

Businesses have responded by increasing expenditures on security cameras, guards, and other security measures. They should also carefully screen and vet personnel with reputable investigation/due diligence services and only use legitimate outsourcing companies as sources of employees."

In another recent post, the Mexico Law Blog discusses the fact that Mexico is a party to more free trade agreements than any other country.

Labels: Mexico