Margarita Zavala: Will Americans Let Trump Destroy U.S.-Mexico Relations? Margarita Zavala - The Washington Post
go to original March 7, 2017

Margarita Zavala is a former congresswoman and first lady of Mexico and is a contender for the Mexican presidency in 2018 (UN Geneva)

Almost two months into the Trump administration, the United States has a choice. Does it want to continue a strong partnership with Mexico? Or will it throw away years of a successful, peaceful and mutually beneficial relationship due to the ignorance of its president? Normally this would not even be a question. But these are not normal times. When the American president can undo with a tweet what has taken us decades to build, Mexicans have to wonder whether the United States is a reliable partner and what the future of our relationship will look like.

President Trump insists on framing U.S.-Mexico relations in simplistic and disrespectful terms. In his view, it is a zero-sum game, with Mexicans “taking advantage” of their northern neighbors. He fixates on the border and talks about Mexico as if it were a war zone, a threat from which the United States needs to wall itself off. Yet despite the sensationalist picture he paints, the U.S.-Mexico border has never been more secure. Net Mexican migration to the U.S. is negative, and not a single terrorist act has been committed in the United States by someone who crossed the Mexican border. As a historical ally, we have worked with both our southern and northern neighbors to ensure border security. The notion that criminals are streaming across the U.S. border is a fallacy put forth to win votes. Trump’s order to build a wall is offensive: a ludicrous solution to a nonproblem.

Frankly, the United States is fortunate to have Mexico as a neighbor and partner. We are a peaceful, democratic, cooperative country with one of the largest economies in the world. We are eternally bound together by geography, by trade, by family, by culture and by affinity.

...The United States is more prosperous, more secure, and more competitive for having Mexico as its partner. It is up to the United States to decide whether it wants to continue a strong partnership, or whether it will let one bad hombre destroy it.

Read the rest at The Washington Post

Related: Mexican Presidential Candidate Margarita Zavala Attacks Trump as the ‘Bad Hombre’ (The Monitor)

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