Eagle Pass is a city of the State of Texas, with 26,000 inhabitants, placed just next to Mexican-US border. In fact, is virtually connected with the Mexican city of Piedras Negras, of 150,000 inhabitants.
During the last years, retailers and shops of Eagle Pass and of all the Texan cities close to the border were receiving huge benefits thanks to the thousands of Mexican shoppers who used to cross the boundary each week to find some products like toys, clothing, or electronic devices, which are only available in the United States. Additionally, they even saved money, due to the high taxes in the Mexican side.
In 2013, ‘USA Today’ newspaper claimed that Mexican customers accounted for 5 billion dollars in retail sales in Texas counties along the border. Lots of cars and tour buses with Mexican plates crossed the border to take the shoppers to the outlets and shopping malls of Texas, and they even took advantage of the journey to make a vacation in the region.
However, thanks to the new immigration policy of the president of the United States, Donald Trump, retailers of Eagle Pass are suffering from low sales due to the drop of the number of Mexican customers. According to Mexican newspaper ‘Excelsior’, some of these shops will take the decission to close the business.
Their main clients, those coming from Mexico, have more difficulties to cross the border, and even their purchasing power decreased due to the plunge of the Mexican peso against the U.S. dollar after the arrival of Donald Trump. The shop owners claim that their businesses are virtually empty, and sales dropped 70 per cent last weeks.
The image above has some rights reserved
