ALBUQUERQUE—Steve Pearce, candidate for Governor, announced today his vision to make New Mexico an international trade hub between the United States, Latin America, and Canada. In a speech to the Economic Forum of Albuquerque, Pearce laid out a roadmap for taking advantage of New Mexico’s strategic advantages.
“New Mexico must strike now to make our competitive advantages work for the people of this state and the world. Our state’s geography, culture, bilingual workforce, renewable energy, and great weather for uninterrupted year round operations give us a lead on other states. We must have a vision and a leader capable of bringing the business community and government together to make it happen. As Governor, I will make New Mexico an international trade hub for decades to come.
“I see a new path forward for New Mexico where jobs and opportunity are everywhere. I will work to expand the SunPort, add rail to move products quickly throughout the country, and create a high tech corridor between our universities and labs. I have no doubt that with the right leadership we can make New Mexico a global trade hub that puts our people to work and gives our state a new mission for the next century.”
International Trade Hub for the Next Century
Our focus will leverage New Mexico’s competitive advantages and capitalize on the new trade agreements between Mexico, Canada, and the United States to forge a new economy between the three countries with the U.S. taking the lead and New Mexico leading the way at home.
Albuquerque will become a trade hub – via air, rail, and truck – for goods coming from all over New Mexico and the entire United States to be distributed to Mexico, Central America, and South America, as well as for goods coming into the United States to be shipped to American consumers.
New Mexico has the strategic location, low cost expansion options, and bilingual workforce that can allow us to seize this moment. We also have the lowest cost renewable energy in the nation that will provide the power for the hub.
We will:
✔ Expand the air cargo activities at SunPort using the existing runways that are already reinforced for heavy cargo planes.
✔ Develop new logistics and warehouse facilities next to SunPort to handle the cargo that will be shipped throughout North America. These facilities will be 100 percent renewal energy powered. We will begin by recruiting companies from the RE100 to locate to the hub and take advantage of New Mexico’s lowest cost in the nation renewable energy. We will also install at least 250 acres of new solar panels on the Westside of Albuquerque to provide power for the companies.
✔ Increase rail linkage with Mexico and throughout the United States using existing rail hubs including at Santa Teresa and Albuquerque. This will spur new jobs and value added manufacturing in New Mexico. This will also include auto manufacturers who have now been provided renewed opportunities through the higher standards for American made auto components in the new trade agreement.
✔ Leverage new businesses from our labs and tech industries to be 21st century gateway to Mexico and Latin America.
There will be a multi-prong start up program:
✔ Establish a task force that coordinates the government entities and their regulations to safely streamline the International Trade Hub expansion.
✔ We will use a portion of the money from the oil and gas boom to pay for this new green energy trade hub.
✔ Bring in the State Investment Council as an independent partner to target wise investments that can yield maximum economic return.