TAMIU's Dr. Covarrubias’s Keynote Address Reimagines North American Economic Integration at NASCO Continental Reunion
Dr. Daniel Covarrubias, director of Texas A&M International University's (TAMIU) A.R. Sanchez, Jr. School of Business Texas Center for Border Economic and Enterprise Development (TCBEED), delivered a keynote presentation on the first day of the NASCO Continental Reunion April 2 - 4, 2025, at the Renaissance Worthington Hotel in Fort Worth, TX.
Dr. Covarrubias's presentation, "Reimagining North American Economic Integration," was delivered Thursday and explored how recent tariff policies threaten three decades of North American economic integration, analyzing both immediate market uncertainty costs and long-term strategic implications for deeply interconnected continental economies.
"In an era where tariffs threaten to fragment North America’s integrated manufacturing and logistics ecosystems, we must develop a forward-looking vision that addresses legitimate security concerns while enhancing regional competitiveness," Dr. Covarrubias explained, "The upcoming USMCA review in 2026 offers a critical opportunity to reimagine North American economic architecture beyond traditional trade frameworks."
Drawing from his extensive research on employment impacts across 15 states and innovative concepts like the Binational Customs Agency, developed in collaboration with Ambassador Geronimo Gutierrez through the U.S.-México Foundation, Covarrubias outlined a comprehensive framework for enhancing North American integration that incorporates security cooperation, technological advancement, and coordinated industrial policy.
His presentation also explored how emerging A.I. technologies can transform cross-border operations, creating more resilient supply chains and modernizing customs processes to meet 21st-Century challenges while maintaining competitive advantages built through three decades of integration.
"North America stands at a crossroads," Covarrubias observed, "It can continue with temporary measures and reactive policies that generate uncertainty while failing to address underlying challenges, or it can develop a more ambitious vision of continental integration that enhances security, leverages technological innovation, and builds industrial competitiveness. How it approaches the 2026 USMCA renegotiation will determine its shared economic trajectory for a generation and its ability to compete effectively with other global economic blocs."
The NASCO Continental Reunion brought together key stakeholders in North American trade, including government officials, industry leaders, and policy experts. This year's event featured distinguished speakers, including diplomatic representatives from Canada and México, executives from major corporations, and leading experts in transportation, logistics, and international trade policy.
Dr. Covarrubias, author of "Navigating the New Era of U.S. -- México Trade," is recognized for his expertise in Logistechs (logistics technologies), cross-border trade, and supply chain integration. He has recently published opinion pieces addressing the impacts of tariffs on integrated North American supply chains and proposing a reimagined USMCA 2.0 framework.
His upcoming white paper will introduce the North American Industrial Policy Coordination Council, a proposed permanent framework for aligning industrial strategies, enhancing supply chain resilience, and coordinating technology development across the continent.
NASCO was founded in 1994 in North Texas as the “I-35 Corridor Coalition” by a group of local elected officials and private industry partners concerned about the recently ratified North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and its impact on regional congestion, especially Interstate Highway 35 from Laredo to Duluth, Minn. In 1996, the group formally organized as a non-profit corporation and began using the acronym NASCO: North America’s Corridor Coalition. Find out more at https://www.nasconetwork.com
For more on Dr. Covarrubias's work or TAMIU's TCBEED research initiatives, please visit http://texascenter.tamiu.edu, email Dr. Covarrubias at dcova@tamiu.edu, or call 956.326.2520.
Registration for TAMIU’s Maymester, Summer, and Fall 2025 courses begins Monday, April 7, 2025, at 8 a.m. online via Uconnect.
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