Washington Post: Trump’s Fight Against Made-in-Mexico Could Carry Price on Both Sides of Border

By Nick Miroff and Joshua Partlow:

On the campaign trail, Donald Trump blasted the North American Free Trade Agreement as “the worst trade deal ever” and threatened to rip it up. And yet the North American economy is a vast interlocking web of enterprises that would not be easy to unravel.

Mexican manufacturing has enjoyed a boom under NAFTA. At the same time, U.S. farmers ship oceans of grain to Mexico. Countless products, like those nails, result from manufacturing chains that straddle both countries. American companies profit from the trade — Walmart is Mexico’s biggest employer — and that helps to prop up Americans’ 401(k) accounts. American-made parts that are assembled into cars in Mexico and sold back across the border mean fewer jobs in Detroit, but cheaper cars for all Americans.

“It’s not a one-sided thing,” said Sam Vale, a McAllen, Tex., businessman who owns and operates a commercial bridge across the Rio Grande. “Is the American public willing to spend 30 to 40 percent more for an automobile just because these guys lost their jobs?”

The Full Story (December 1, 2016)