Viewpoints: When Trump blames Mexico, it hurts Arizona

[riversedge]

Viewpoints: When Trump blames Mexico, it hurts Arizona

http://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/2016/12/04/trump-mexico-trade-urias/94663436/


Lisa Urias, AZ I SEE IT 10:24 p.m. MST December 3, 2016



Viewpoints: Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant rants and threat to renegotiate NAFTA would hurt Arizona's (lucrative) relationship with Mexico.

......................


Trump’s promises to “build a wall,” his negative characterization of Mexican immigrants, his threat to renegotiate NAFTA, and his general dismissive tone and demeanor toward our neighbor to the south significantly cloud the future of the relationship.


But the deep economic and cultural ties between our countries, and the opportunities that these ties can bring, tell a very different story. According to the Office of the United States Trade Representative, $583.6 billion in (two way) trade of goods and services occurred during 2015 between our two nations. Mexico is the third-largest trading partner for the U.S., and the U.S. the largest trading partner for Mexico.

6 million American jobs are at risk
Play Video

Carlos Manuel Sada Solana, the Mexican ambassador to U.S., talks to The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com about the Trump presidency and NAFTA. azcentral.com

These economic ties create jobs for American workers. According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, six million U.S. jobs depend on U.S. trade with Mexico, a flow that has been greatly facilitated by NAFTA, which has helped eliminate costly tariff and non-tariff barriers..................




..........While our language may be different, we are neighbors, and our geographic proximity, the similar manner in which we live, our shared heritage and traditions, and our deep and mutually beneficial trading relationship are all part of the economic and cultural ties that we must promote and strengthen, not undermine.

[Vogon_Glory]

1. It also hurts Texas

Trump's Mexico-bashing rhetoric may play well in the Rust Belt and the Appalachians, but disrupting US trade with Mexico would cost a lot of jobs. It would directly cost a lot of jobs for people whose firms deal directly with Mexican trade partners, and indirectly cost jobs for people who work and live where those businesses are sited. That people's jobs in Nogales and Tuscon and Phoenix would be a no-brained for most of us, but people in places like Dallas--Ft Worth, Houston, and San Antonio would also be SOL.

I suspect that a lot of right-wing Trump-loving Magoos are in for big surprises as the unexpected blow-back kicks in.