Does a viral video show Mexico closing the U.S. border in response to President Trump's announcement about imposing tariffs on March 3, 2025? No, that's not true: The video predated the announcement by several days. The gate closure seen in the video happened during a protest against security-related delays on the Mexican side of the crossing. At the time of writing the border is open.
One example of the video appeared in a post on X (archived here) published on March 5, 2025 with a caption that read:
RIGHT ON SCHEDULE
The video itself had a caption that read "Mexico has shut down its border with US due to tariffs taking effect today" and showed some kind of gate being pulled shut.
This is what the video looked like:
RIGHT ON SCHEDULE pic.twitter.com/96dLRwLUJy
-- SAINTELLE (@420roundabout) March 5, 2025
President Trump's announcement about implementing tariffs on Mexico happened on March 3, 2025 (archived here)
The video has been online since at least February 27, 2025, which can be easily verified on YouTube (archived here).
According to a February 27, 2025 news report from KGNS (archived here), the video showed a temporary closure related to protests on the Mexican side:
LAREDO, Tex. (KGNS) - Laredo police are expecting some significant traffic delays due to Protests happening on the Mexican side of the World Trade Bridge.
Police have been enforcing an operation to help ease traffic flow in the area. Additionally, officers are recommending everyone stay off the westbound lanes along Loop 20 that travels into Mexico.
Nuevo Laredo officials share that the protests are happening because of security measures being enforced by the Mexican National Guard that have been causing long delays and inspections.
This was confirmed by a social media post of the Laredo Police department on the same day:
Protests on the Mexican side to affect World Trade Bridge
There is expected to be a significant backup of traffic headed into Mexico due to some protests on the Mexican side of the World Trade Bridge. There is a contingency operation that has been enacted for traffic flow and control. We highly recommend staying off of westbound Loop 20 into Mexico to avoid getting stuck in commercial motor vehicle traffic. Use caution and expect significant delays. We will post any updates here. Thank you.
At the time of writing, the U.S. CBP website listing wait times and delays at border ports of entry does not show any indication of closures on the Mexican border.
