Thread: With Trump victory, Mexico's worst fears are realized

With Trump victory, Mexico's worst fears are realized



Nov 9, 2016 at 1:23 PM

MEXICO CITY - The election of Donald Trump threw Mexican financial markets into turmoil on Wednesday, unleashing a wave of national anxiety and threatening to put dramatic new strains on the relationship between the two neighbors and trading partners.

As the results of the presidential election came in, Mexicans watched with growing horror as Trump - a man who has vowed to wall off Mexico, deport millions, and re-write the trade deal that has undergirded Mexico's economic progress over the past two decades - captured state after state. The peso, which had been strengthening on the basis of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton's lead in the polls, plummeted. The headline of an editorial Wednesday in one of Mexico's leading newspapers, El Universal, simply read: "A dark future."

"The American people chose yesterday the path of racism, hate and intolerance," it began.

Mexico's top economic officials, Finance Minister Jose Antonio Meade and Central Bank governor Agustin Carstens, tried to calm fears here about the immediate impact on Mexico's economy. In a morning news conference at the presidential palace here, Meade said that the U.S. election increased uncertainty in world financial markets and heightened the volatility of Mexico's currency. But he added that Mexico was in a strong economic position.

"It's important to remember that the functioning of markets has remained orderly," Meade said. "The result of the election doesn't imply an immediate impact in the norms that regulate the commerce of goods and services, financial flows, or the capacity of people to travel between both countries."

Mexico's Central Bank has regularly raised interest rates over the past year in an attempt to contain the losses in the peso and tamp down inflation. The peso, which was trading around 18 to the dollar on Tuesday, has dropped in value to more than 20 to the dollar. Carstens added that the Central Bank would take steps necessary to keep inflation, which is around 3 percent, "low and stable."

President Enrique Peña Nieto on Wednesday tweeted his congratulations to the United States on its electoral process and he expressed to Trump "the will to work together in favor of bilateral relations."

As Trump's lead grew on Tuesday night, Mexico's foreign minister, Claudia Ruiz Massieu, rushed to the presidential palace, Los Pinos, to discuss the results with Peña Nieto.

Trump's campaign has caused upheaval in Mexico since he launched his bid for the presidency in a speech calling Mexican immigrants rapists and criminals.

Fears of a Trump victory and possible damage to the Mexican economy prompted Peña Nieto to invite Trump to Mexico City in September to improve ties. That meeting caused a huge backlash, as Mexicans protested their leader's welcoming treatment of the Republican candidate.The finance minister, who pushed for the meeting, lost his job.

Beyond the short-term market volatility, Mexicans fear lasting damage to their economy, with some economists predicting a recession if Trump pursues the plans he has outlined. Trump has regularly disparaged the North American Free Trade Agreement, the accord that took effect in 1994 that has helped Mexican exports grow by orders of magnitude while also attracting far more foreign investment in the country. More than $1 billion worth of exports and imports cross the 2000-mile U.S.-Mexico border every day. In many cases, such as in the auto industry, parts come from both sides of the border to make a finished product.
Mexicans are also worried about Trump's threats to deport millions of illegal immigratns from the United States.

"This is a very difficult situation, we have to prepare ourselves," said Jeffrey Weldon, a political scientist at the Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico.

"You have to think about all the Mexicans that will have to return from the United States, and how they will integrate into society. You will have problems with the dollar, and we will have little time to solve our trade problems."

Raul Benitez Manaut, a professor at Mexico's National Autonomous University, noted that the Trump victory followedthe British vote to leave the European Union and the Colombian vote to scrap a peace plan with left-wing guerrillas. "The traditional parties don't respond to the needs of the people," he said.

"The aggressive and nationalist discourse has expanded in a very important way in the world," he said.

The election also reshuffled the deck on Mexico's domestic politics. The country's parties are just getting into campaign mode with a presidential election two years out. Many observers speculated that a nationalist backlash could emerge here to counter the anti-Mexican and anti-immigrant rhetoric that Trump has used. The leading populist candidate here, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who has trailed in early polls among Mexican voters behind the right-leaning National Action Party candidate Margarita Zavala, could see a resurgence, some analysts predicted.

"Mexico will have a very big problem having good relations with him," Benitez added. "Mexicans are very nationalistic, and they feel aggrieved by Trump."

http://www.norwichbulletin.com/news/...s-are-realized

"Mexico will have a very big problem having good relations with him," Benitez added. "Mexicans are very nationalistic, and they feel aggrieved by Trump."

Americans are very nationalistic and we feel aggrieved by Mexico.

So lets go make new friends with Russia.

The American people are aggrieved against mexico and rightfully so!!

MEXICO IS NOT OUR FRIEND!!

The mexican government is actively encouraging their citizens to enter our nation illegally and steal jobs and social services that should be given to US citizens. This invasion of mexican nationals, actively encouraged by the mexican government, into our nation is causing a whole host of economic and social ills to our nation.

Additionally, these mexican nationals who have invaded our nation, once here, also advocate for mexico to retake land that the USA both won from them in an armed conflict and for which mexico was paid $15 million in the 1848 treaty that ended the mexican-American War, called the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.

The mexican government is encouraging an unconventional invasion of our nation. Basically, it's a type of asymmetric warfare that is being perpetrated by mexico against the USA.

MEXICO IS NOT OUR FRIEND!!

This is an invasion by people, not wearing Military uniforms as in an "act of war" but they are invading our Country killing and murdering thousands of our citizens across the United States, for decades, in every State while our government turns a blind eye.

This needs to end and needs to end now. Put our troops on the border and turn them right back around.

Our President's responsibility is to ensure the safety and security of our people and our Nation. Not only has Obama FAILED and encouraged this invasion...many President's before him did nothing. And our spineless President's continue to pay the extortion money to Mexico and Central America with ZERO results.

The buck stops here, once and for all, with our new President Donald Trump. I look forward to not having that "can kicked down the road" anymore but that can crushed into oblivion.

Originally Posted by Beezer

I look forward to not having that "can kicked down the road" anymore but that can crushed into oblivion.

Well said!!