Let’s start with the North. Canadian PM Mark Carney apologized to Trump over the ad that correctly quoted Ronald Reagan on tariffs. The ad was paid for by Ontario Premiere Doug Ford, who’s an asshole. Carney had seen the ad before it aired and told Ford that it wasn’t a good idea. As usual, the conservative acted the fool and the liberal had to clean up after him. Carney has to play nice with Trump and get a decent trade agreement as he works feverishly to diversify Canada’s trade portfolio. Once Carney has achieved his aim, the US will be the poorer for it, and Canada won‘t be coming back, since they’ve seen what the US is willing to elect a capricious fool who makes it impossible to strike a deal.
Now, the South. It’s hard to find decent English coverage of Mexican news. Mexico News Daily is basically the only decent choice (El País in English is OK, the rest are not as good). The editor/CEO of MND is Travis Bembeneck, who’s made a big difference in the quality of the paper. He has a good piece on a recent visit to the Chicago area:
I stopped in a large hardware store chain in the Chicago suburbs to pick up a few things and it was an absolute ghost town. I spent some time talking to the very helpful young Mexican-American employee who helped me locate an item. The conversation with her really stuck in my head.
She told me that she used to work at the contractor desk, but now has been moved to the store floor since “none of our Mexican contractors are coming here anymore.” I asked what she meant.
“The vast majority of the contractors that frequent the store are Mexican, and they are now afraid to come here,” she said. She added that they have almost all begun requesting delivery to avoid the risk of going to the store, that the contractors are avoiding jobs in downtown Chicago right now, and that some of her construction worker friends are even asking her to bring them lunch to further minimize the risk of going to a restaurant. She was noticeably sad and angry as she talked. I asked her how people are feeling; what they are thinking and saying. She lowered her voice and, with tears welling in her eyes, said, “Many of them say that for Mexicans now, the American dream is dead.” I asked her if she believed that, and without hesitation she said, “Yes, absolutely.”
She acknowledged the illegal status of many of the contractors, but said most had been there for many years and worked very hard. It was sad to see such a bright young lady so dejected and depressed. I ended our conversation by asking her what she thinks they will do. Her answer: “I think many of them are ultimately going to go back to Mexico. My family is thinking about doing it too.”
Bembenek makes the point that Mexican unemployment is at 3% right now, that the Sheinbaum administration has started a program called Mexico Te Abraza (Mexico Embraces You) to welcome back immigrants returning from the US, and that a group of bilingual, educated workers would be a boon to the Mexican economy.
The loss of Mexican workers will be a major blow to the US economy, but like Canadian trade, once those workers are gone, they’re not coming back.
