The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has fundamentally reoriented the United States' economy. Following World War II, trade in the U.S. flowed along an east-west axis. That trade pattern resulted from heavy U.S. involvement in Germany and Japan through the Marshall Plan. The federal government set up a national highway system to support east-west trade and Congress created trust funds to spur investment in the national highway system and ports on the West and East coasts.

Since Mexico’s entry into the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which lowered tariffs on traded goods and the ratification of NAFTA in 1993, north-south trade has expanded significantly. Port cities such as Detroit, Laredo, El Paso, and Brownsville have joined the ranks of Houston, Boston, Los Angeles, and Seattle as critical junctures in U.S. overland trade. These ports-of-entry have become the gateways of the United States' future. More regionally, this shift has imposed a significant burden on the U.S.-Mexico Border infrastructure, since it accommodates high volumes of NAFTA trade. The chart U.S.-Mexico Border Ports of Entry illustrates the major ports-of-entry found along the U.S.-Mexico Border.

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