Mexican Border Wall Essay

President Trump’s Mexican Border wall has been a controversy since the beginning of the election. During the election Trump said that Mexico would pay for the $15 billion wall, but Mexico has refused to pay for the wall. After the inauguration, the Trump administration stated that the wall will be paid for by imposing a 20 percent tariff on all imported goods from Mexico. Mexico is the United States’ third largest trading partner, after China and Canada, with $316.4 billion worth of imports in 2015 (“Mexico”). Since trade with Mexico is a large part of the economy, it is very likely that this tariff will have a large effect on the US. Higher prices from Mexico would, ideally, encourage more production here in the United States. Instead of

Using social media hashtags like #AdiosStarbucks and #AdiosProductosGringos shows that Mexicans are upset by this tariff and are going to boycott American goods. The only problem with this boycott is that it may end up hurting the Mexican economy more than helping. “Starbucks defended itself, saying that its local division is a Mexico-owned franchise which employs some 7,000 Mexicans and features Mexican-grown coffees,” (Darlington and Charner). Many American companies that operate in Mexico are locally-owned franchises, meaning that the boycott does not help the Mexicans in proving their point, but hurts them. What they should be doing is not boycotting “American” companies, but rather buying locally produced products and helping the Mexican economy. Potentially, a Mexican boycott of American goods would reduce demand for those goods. But Mexicans would have to boycott the correct goods, not just American companies. Ideally, any demand that is reduced for American goods would be made up by Americans buying more American-made goods. Normally, if demand is reduced for a product the price would be lowered so the demand rises again. If Americans take that lower price from the reduced demand, plus the price of American goods already being lower than the price for foreign goods because of the tariff, demand for American goods may increase, especially in American