海角破解版

President Trump is threatening to close the U.S.-Mexico border in response to a recent surge of people crossing illegally. In speaking to reporters about the proposal this past weekend, he said a shutdown could include 鈥渁ll trade.鈥� 

Such a move would have a significant impact on Ohio, which has Mexico as its second-largest trading partner after Canada. 

In 2018, , or 12.6 percent of the state鈥檚 exports, according to the Ohio Development Services Agency. While roughly half the value of those exported goods came from industrial products鈥攕uch as machines, plastics, and auto parts鈥攁gricultural goods were big too.

鈥淐orn is one of the major ones,鈥� said Joe Cornely, a spokesman for Ohio Farm Bureau. 鈥淎 lot of wheat from the United States goes into Mexico, and a lot of pork.鈥� He says a complete halt of trade would likely sink prices that farmers could get for those commodities. 

鈥淚f we can鈥檛 sell any corn to anyone in Mexico, then the price will drop quickly,鈥� Cornely said.

The pinch would also likely be felt by U.S. consumers in the form of higher prices on Mexican agricultural products. For instance, about 49.5 percent of the vegetables imported by the U.S. in 2018, as well as 40 percent of imported fruits, came from Mexico, according to data from the .

鈥淚t just demonstrates someone doesn鈥檛 understand the nature of global business,鈥� said Ohio State University Professor Thomas Goldsby, referring to the president. A freeze in the movement of goods across the border would be 鈥渄isastrous鈥� for companies in Ohio with cross-border supply chains, he said.

The value of exports from Ohio to Mexico has more than doubled in the past decade. [Ohio Exports Report: 2018 / Ohio Development Services Agency]

that a shutdown would put pressure on Congress and the Mexican government to do more to stop the recent flow of migrants, which has . Trump also expressed intent to cut U.S. aid to El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala鈥攃ountries from which many of the migrants are coming in order to flee gang violence and poverty. 

鈥淢exico could stop it so easily,鈥� Trump said. 鈥淚f they don鈥檛 stop them, we鈥檙e closing the border.鈥� But the move would likely cause collateral damage to the U.S. economy, Goldsby said. 

鈥淥ur supply chains are globally interconnected,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd so, major trading partner or minor, you can鈥檛 take that kind of strong position in the near term and not expect it not to have a dramatic effect.鈥�

Goldsby pointed out that Trump using an economic threat against Mexico seems to work at cross-purposes with another White House goal鈥攖o get Congress to ratify the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade deal.

But, he added, what the president says and what he does are often two different things.