All companies look at the landscape to determine what is? and what can be? Nobody knows the future although there are hints what is coming in the next few years because most of the future is dependent on many things happening before profits are made. If you live in a city, you look at the office buildings, are people working from the office or home? If they work from home, do we need more office buildings. However, developers believe we will continue to work from offices and if they can received signed leases they are happy to build more office buildings because of what is.

In an article by Eric Atkins of the Globe and Mail, a couple of years ago, Canadian Pacific merged with Kansas City Southern to become CPKC. The CP runs east and west across Canada and the KC runs north and south from Mexico through Kansas City to Chicago and up to Canada. The merger was done at a cost of $27 billion and went through. One of the biggest shareholders CPKC is Bill Ackerman who holds it as a core company.

Part of what is includes free trade as first through NAFTA and then renegotiated to USMCA act which essentially keeps the idea of free trade. Trans-border shipments made up 41% of CPKC’s revenue in 2023. CPKC offers customers longer hauls with fewer interchanges which is a time-saving and efficient service or lowers costs for CPKC.

The railway has partnered with Americold Realty Trust to build a chilled container facility in Kansas City that will send pork and beef to Mexico. The hub will have Mexican food inspectors on-site to ensure rapid shipments south and a seamless border. (it is less expensive to cut meat in Mexico).

The 2 companies are looking at moving Mexican fruit and produce north to markets in the US and Canada. In addition, the company built a second bridge connecting Mexico and the Texas doubling its capacity to move trains. Also, many vehicles move back and forth between the US and Mexico, CPKC opened an automotive yard near Dallas for finished vehicles.

Mexican trade accounted for 22% of CPKC’s 2023 revenue or $3 billion. Of this total 55% is US exports, 23% is Mexican imports and 1% is Mexico to Canada.

President Trump has talked about imposing tariffs on the deal he negotiated or the USMCA. Other people in or near the administration have talked about tariffs as negotiating tools. No one really knows, but billions of dollars of investment based on the what is? have been made and will slow down or stop on the words of the President.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.