A Poorly Planned Political Stunt Created Unnecessary Auto Supply Delays

Too many things in our lives seem to be political, and with the current slow movement of auto supply shipments, we don’t need more delays.

Like him or not, former President Donald Trump knew how to get our attention. It seems Texas Governor Greg Abbott tried to get attention recently but failed to truly think things through. On the surface, the actions sound great, but when you get down to what actually took place, this is another one of those political moves that make you hate career politicians and some of the games they play.

Supply Shipments Are Already Behind; Let’s Slow Them Down Some More

Both the auto and housing industries are facing massive supply constraints. It’s enough to make people want to pull their hair out, but it gets worse when a politician, in an attempt to boost his name in the polls, does something to make the situation worse. Maybe Abbott thought he was making positive changes, or possibly he had a report that supports what he did, but when the Governor of a border state starts slowing down trucks, it makes us wonder what his motives might be.

The Texas Border Runs a Large Amount of Product Through It

The supplies of goods coming from Central and South America into the United States flow through Texas, moving northward. Trucks passing through this point account for 3.5 percent of our nation’s gross domestic product, which is a significant number. This area wasn’t a pinch point for supplies, but when things turn political, the auto supply network and movement is slowed that makes things worse. The delays caused were unnecessary and put factories behind by up to 30 hours because of the stunt pulled by the Texas Governor.

What did Abbott Do?

We can surmise the “safety inspections” instituted by Greg Abbott were an effort to aid himself politically. If you weren’t already aware, Abbott is up for reelection this year, and, as they always are, border crossings are a hot topic. Unfortunately, Abbott put his efforts in the wrong place this time. In the name of “border security,” the Governor instituted these “safety inspections” for every single truck coming across the border from Mexico. Before you get excited that Abbott is somehow stopping shipments of illegal aliens into the United States, you need to understand the whole picture.

Here’s Where Things Go Awry and Show the Texas Governor Didn’t Think This One Through

Whenever a truck crosses the Texas border from Mexico on one of the many roads moving through the state, it is X-rayed and thoroughly searched by federal authorities at the border. This has been in place for a long time and was not part of the “safety inspections” ordered by Greg Abbott. Because these thorough inspections already take place, the Governor instituted checks of the turn signals and brakes of the trucks, which took more time and created serious bottlenecks along the border. Nothing in the “safety inspections” was meant to dissuade illegal border crossings.

What Caused The Governor to Enforce These Inspections?

This is a burning question. Was this simply a failed political stunt that damaged the auto supply movement forward, thus slowing down the production of new vehicles, or did Abbott have some information that supported these inspections. Supporters of the Governor will certainly give him the benefit of the doubt, but that might not extend to automakers with shipments that were delayed due to this strange and rather pointless action by a state authority that controls a large part of our country’s southern border.

This was the Second Supply Chain Disruption This Year

Earlier in the year, the Ambassador Bridge that connects Detroit to Windsor, Ontario, was blocked for a week in February by truckers protesting the pandemic requirements enforced on them. We don’t damn the truckers for protesting, that is certainly their right, but these drivers slowed down supplies moving to and from Canada to auto plants and other areas in both countries. This put the crossing in a pickle, considering this is the single-busiest crossing between these two countries and a big reason why Detroit and Ontario are prime locations for auto plants.

Abbott Backed Down, Thankfully

It only took a week for Greg Abbott to see the error of his ways. He halted this political stunt that was slowing the auto supply chain on April 15, but the damage was done. The slowdown only adds to the troubles faced in the auto industry. Unfortunately, the way our government is set up, the federal government doesn’t have the authority to step in and reverse what a governor is doing in their state most of the time. It’s possible this could have been a time when that was necessary, but thankfully it only lasted a week.

Do We Have a Trade Problem With Canada or Mexico?

No, we certainly do not. For the most part, trade between the three countries has been unrestricted since 1994. Recently, during the Trump administration, the North American Free Trade Agreement was renegotiated into the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement and ratified. The supply movement problems faced at each border had nothing to do with this agreement but with the pandemic mandates in one case and an attempt to keep a name in the news in the other case. Hopefully, we don’t see any additional issues in this supply chain going forward.

The Trucking Industry is Essential in the United States

The pandemic did enough damage to various industries around the world, and in our own country, we rely on products to move rapidly and freely across the country. Delays, even though performed by protestors expressing their sacrosanct rights, can cause problems. Of course, the political stunt performed by the Texas Governor that slowed the auto supply movement could have been avoided. Hopefully, Greg Abbott has learned the importance of allowing the continuous flow of products to allow more industries to work toward returning to a pre-pandemic version of normal.