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Weak Mexican Peso Impacts American Retailers On The Border
Mónica Ortiz Uribe
A bus in El Paso, Texas waits to take tourists across the border to Juárez. While the weak peso is bad news for Mexican shoppers north of the border, it's good news for Americans who travel to Mexico.
EL PASO — The Mexican peso has been steadily losing value against the U.S. dollar, reaching an all-time low in late August. While Americans may find this a good time to vacation south of the border, it's not so great for Mexican shoppers who come north.
To get an idea of how many Mexicans shop in American stores, try walking through a Wal-Mart parking lot in El Paso. On any given day there are dozens of license plates from the neighboring state of Chihuahua. Right now, those shoppers are not happy.
"We're only buying basic things, no more luxuries," said Ricardo Tuda of Juárez.
The Mexican peso has lost 10 percent of its value in the past six months, partly due to low oil prices and economic uncertainty in China.
"Unfortunately for retailers on this side of the border, they have noticed lower volumes of customer traffic out of Mexico," said Tom Fullerton, an economics professor at the University of Texas at El Paso.
Mexican shoppers contribute billions to border states like Texas and New Mexico, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.
In Arizona, some business leaders want to invite more Mexican shoppers into the state by relaxing travel restrictions to those who hold visitor visas.