Nuevo Laredo is the Northern terminus of the national Railroad and the Inter-Americas Highway, as well as an important point of entry for U.S. tourists driving to Mexico. It is also a center of international trade and the distribution point for an agricultural (mainly cotton) and livestock-raising area; commerce; tourism industry.

Nuevo Laredo has been one of the many Mexican cities affected by an influx of foreign capital, primarily due to the establishment of foreign-owned industrial plants, known as maquiladoras. Has developed into a transportation-trans-shipment center since NAFTA (1993).

Founded in 1755, the city was part of Laredo until the end of the Mexican-American War in 1848. Nuevo Laredo played a role in the Mexican revolution of 1910 and was burned extensively in 1914.