EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) — The El Paso Chamber, along with other local business leaders, held a news conference Wednesday in Downtown El Paso. Economy Wholesale Grocers President Paul Dipp said the bridge should be named after President Donald Trump.

“I also propose, along with many others, that the bridge be renamed the Donald J. Trump Bridge of the Americas in recognition of President Trump’s commitment to American industry and to bringing domestic manufacturing back as one of our nation’s greatest strengths,” Dipp said. “A modernized bridge that keeps this trade moving would be a fitting monument to his (President Trump) vision.”

Leaders called on local, state, and federal government leaders and officials to reconsider removing commercial traffic from the Bridge of the Americas.

“Every city along the southern border and that is a fact, is expanding capacity to do cross-border trade; El Paso is cutting it down, right when growth historically is strong,” said EPC President and CEO, Ricardo Mora. “We’re closing ourselves to trade.”

According to CEO Mora, over the last five years the region has almost doubled in growth in cross-border trade.

“Some of our representatives have failed us; their job is to make informed decisions on behalf of the community,” CEO Mora said. “This modernization of the Bridge of the Americas should be a major opportunity for El Paso and instead, the current plan will set us back both environmentally and economically; nobody wins here.”

The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) has previously announced plans to modernize the bridge, but those plans include removing commercial traffic.

Today, the El Paso Chamber announced the findings of a 155-page economic impact study conducted by the Hunt Institute for Global Competitiveness at the University of Texas at El Paso.

The study examined the potential consequences of removing commercial traffic from the BOTA Land Port of Entry.

Here’s the full study made by the Hunt Institute:

“Some local and state officials pushing this plan do not seem to care about the irreversible damage that will be caused to our economy and we do,” CEO Mora also said. “We will not stand for it, and we have to put a stop to this nonsense.”

The report includes the following data and according to the El Paso Chamber, if commercial traffic is removed from ‘BOTA,’ this could happen:

10.99% of commercial trade could go to other border regions and make the region less competitive.

Around $36.6 billion could be lost in 2036 alone.

$2.3 billion worth of loss of economic output through 2028 and 2036 if the bridge does get modernized.

Close to 9,529 jobs will be lost in total.

The report also states that total imports in the region have roughly doubled since 2020.

“Regardless, this is a mistake. Our community needs to wake up; the Chamber of Commerce represents businesses, we represent commerce and we represent trade,” CEO Mora said. “We ask our Electeds to take a stance on this; we have to fight for our community and for commerce, because without that, we will not be the El Paso, Las Cruces and Ciudad Juárez region that we want to be in the future.”

The Bridge of the Americas is the only toll-free bridge in the region; it handled around $12 billion of two-way truck trade in 2025 alone.

“The study, conducted by the Hunt Institute for Global Competitiveness at the University of Texas at El Paso, was commissioned by the Chamber in response to the U.S. General Services Administration’s (GSA) 2025 Record of Decision preferring an alternative that eliminates commercial operations at BOTA,” said the El Paso Chamber.

The GSA said the modernization design is set to be made early next year, with construction set to start in early 2028.

ABC-7 reached out to the GSA and to the office of Congresswoman Veronica Escobar for comment; they are working to provide us with a response.