Threatening to close down the U.S. border with Mexico, 72-year-old President Donald Trump warned socialist Mexican President Lopez Obridor to do something to stem the flow of Central American immigrants to the U.S. Speaking on Sunday morning talk shows, White House Chief of Staff Mike Mulvaney and Senior Counselor Kellyanne Conway said Trump was serious about stopping the unending flow of asylum seekers swamping the U.S. border. Trump knows that Mexico has limited federal resources to halt the mass migrations from failed states in South and Central American from seeking asylum or work migrants. Saying there was a “good likelihood” that he’d shut down the border, Trump appealed to Congressional Democrats to take his funding requests for the border wall seriously. Trump knows shutting down the border would plunge the U.S. economy into recession.
With Mexico the U.S.’s third largest trading partner totally $571 billion in export and import trade, shutting down the U.S.-Mexico would cause far more than an avocado shortage. Heading into the 2020 election, Trump can ill-afford to rob himself from his No. 1 selling point: The stock market and U.S. economy. Closing the Mexican border could cause billions in lost trade, hurting American companies more than Mexico. Speaking on ABC’s “This Week” with George Stephanopoulos yesterday, Mulvaney said Trump wanted to get the Democrats’ attention when it comes to the border crisis. “Faced with those limitations, the president will do everything he can. If closing ports of entry means that, that exactly what he intends to do,” Mulvany said. “We need border security and we’re going to do the best we can with what we have,” asking for more bipartisan support for the border crisis.
Mulvaney watched Trump shut down the government Dec. 22, 2018 over repeated rejections of his border wall funding-request to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Sen. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). Both laughed in Trump’s face rejecting any requests by the president for border wall funding. Trump ended the government shutdown Jan. 25, 2019 after 35 days, after it was clear Pelosi and Schumer would not budge on border wall funding. Pelosi and Schumer chose to use the stalemate with Trump as a rallying cry for the 2020 election, completely ignoring Immigration and Customs Enforcement [ICE], Border Patrol and local law enforcement urgent requests for help on the border. While shutting down the government didn’t help the economy, shutting down the border would create lasting damage for U.S. business, exporting over $270 billion in goods-and-services to Mexico.
Trump tweeted Sunday, March 31, that the current immigration situation is “a ridiculous asylum system and major loopholes to remain as a mainstay of our immigration system.” ”Mexico is likewise doing NOTHING, a very bad combination for our Country. Homeland Security is being so very nice, but not for long!” Trump tweeted, without elaborating on a possible border shutdown. Homeland Security Secretary Kristjen Nielsen offered new legislative language to return unaccompanied immigrant children back to their families, and, most importantly, no longer separating families from children during detention. Democrats slammed Trump’s border proposals, insisting that more could be done to improve the economies of Central American countries from which the lion’s share of refugees come. Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke (D-Tx.) ripped Trump for sowing “fear and division.”
Importing $6.9 billion in crude oil from Mexico, a border shutdown would cause temporary shortages to U.S. oil refineries, causing pump prices to spike in the U.S. Trump’s decision to shut down the U.S.-Mexico border would cause economic damage to the U.S. economy, already feeling the effects of a global economic slowdown. Creating an oil shock would have consequences to the overall U.S. economy, showing signs of weakness. When the Federal Reserve Board’s Open Market Committee [FOMC] met March 20, they left the Federal Funds Rate unchanged, signaling underlying U.S. economic weakness. Whatever problems immigrants play on the Southern border, they pale into insignificance compared with the impact of a border shutdown. Mexico imports billions of gallons of refined petroleum products from the U.S., including gasoline and diesel fuel.
Trump’s threat to shutdown the U.S.-Mexico border would have catastrophic consequences to the U.S. economy, hurting the U.S. more than Mexico. “It would have a widespread and dramatic impact on our markets almost immediately,” said an unnamed oil executive whose company exports refined products to Mexico. Mexico depends heavily on the U.S. for natural gas, propane, gasoline and ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel. Democrats continue to deny the border crisis, insisting that better trade policies would fix the problem. “What we need to do is focus on what’s happening in Central America, where three countries are disassembling before out eyes and people are desperately coming to the United States . . .” said Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Il.), urging Trump to not cut aid to Central American countries. Shutting down the border only hurts the U.S. economy, doing little to stop illegal immigration.
