BULLYING MEXICO
80% of Mexico’s exports go to the US and 43% of its imports are from the US. Tourism from the US to Mexico contributes $29 billion a year to the Mexican economy. (All figures are as of 2023.) The Mexican economy is dependent on the US. Trump knows this, and thinks it gives him unlimited leverage over Mexico.
Trump plans to put 25% tariffs on Mexican imports as of 3/4/25 and has threatened to send US troops into Mexico to fight drug cartels, and he has even insulted Mexico by changing the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.
Mexico has tried to placate the US by turning over drug cartel kingpins to the US for trial, it has sent troops to the border, and it provides services to would-be migrants who can no longer enter the US.
Mexico is no longer the poor nation it was in Trump’s youth. It is now a middle-income nation of 130 million, with extensive industrialization. Bullying can backfire.
Source: The New York Times, 2/18/25