There has been a fair deal of talk about Mexico trade issues lately. This is due to American President Donald Trump threatening to close the southern border if Mexico doesn’t resolve the current rate of illegal immigrants to the United States.
“The DEMOCRATS have given us the weakest immigration laws anywhere in the World. Mexico has the strongest, & they make more than $100 Billion a year on the U.S. Therefore, CONGRESS MUST CHANGE OUR WEAK IMMIGRATION LAWS NOW, & Mexico must stop illegals from entering the U.S….”
But can America afford to do this? How would things change if he followed through with the idea? We did some research and found that closing trade borders might hurt us more than it would hurt Mexico.
The Truth About the Trade Border
According to a report by the Office of the United States Trade Representative, the United States exported around $276 billion of goods to Mexico and imported around $339 billion worth of goods. This made Mexico the second largest export source and import supplier for the U.S. that year. It also means that we actually receive around $63 billion worth MORE than we give them.
Trump’s statement that Mexico makes more than $100 billion on the U.S. is technically true if you don’t factor in how much we also make from them. If you do, then we actually make $63 billion from them.
The United States Customs and Border Protection had a reported budget of $13.56 billion in 2016. This is less than 25 percent of what we would lose if we cut all trade with Mexico.
What We Could Expect
Mexico exports a lot of good to America. If the trade border is cut off, they would stop coming in. Eventually, the produces brought in would sell out without the ability to restock. This is especially true for certain foreign fruits, like avocados, which specialists believe would be sold out entirely in only a few weeks.
We can also expect our economy to get weaker. The cost of goods will go up to compensate with the lost import options and forced compromises.
It’s like when a cartoon has a character trying to kill a fly, but the fly lands on their own head, so they hit themselves forcefully in the face to kill it, hurting themselves more than the fly. That’s how things would go if we closed trade borders with Mexico.
Charles Freeman January 8, 2022
It’s NOT about closing the border to TRADE. It’s about not flooding the country with illegal immigrants that we will have to feed, house, & pay for. it’s MOSTLY about bringing in a large amount of people who will be made citizens who will be beholden to the democrats for a permanent voter base for them. In short, it’s about POWER for democrats. If the majority of them came here & let it be known they would be voting republican when they become citizens, the democrats would build a wall from one end of the border to the other twice as tall with booby traps & alligators.