The returns from Donald Trump's disastrous diplomatic trip to Mexico last week continue to get worse and worse, as the days move by.
Mexican Senator Armando Ríos Piter filed a bill which at first glance merely will ensure that America's southern neighbor is never made to directly or indirectly finance the Republican nominee's fictional border wall, but upon deeper reading could impact every agreement between North America’s two most populous nations
Many of the agreements in question were enacted after 2001 to keep the United States free of terrorist intrusion across the southern border, which have thus far been successful due to Mexico’s diligent border policies.
Sen. Piter's staff reached out to me after reading this story to provide a more complete picture of their proposal which makes "full use of the foreign policy mandate given to the Mexican Senate by the Constitution," and told me the following about their legislative goals for exclusive publication here:
“If we don't start planning now, it could totally go wrong. We are not seeking to escalate Trump's war of words, and nobody knows what went on in the candidate's discussion with President Nieto, so this will assure the Mexican public that they'll never be forced to pay to build a wall that they do not want.”
“Mexico's strict border entry policies which we have agreed to since 2001 have resulted in zero terrorists crossing our shared US-Mexico border, so if an American President won't honor NAFTA, then the Mexican Senate will have to review the many treaties enacted which protect America's homeland security. “
"This is a preventive measure, in case America's stance about foreign trade which impact Mexico significantly. It's not so different from the discussions that the United Kingdom's discussions about barring Donald Trump from entry, so we are seeking to plan ahead with a pro-active public policy which addresses all contingencies.”
If Trump did break NAFTA and start a trade war, it would then by law cause our neighbors to reconsider every treaty signed between our two nations which does nominally include those which ceded Texas and California, but mainly those in the last twenty years.
That hasn’t stopped some in the media from seizing on those lurid details, which would be just as impossible to enact as Trump’s silly wall idea, by seizing on language that says:
The bill establishes that, should the United States decide not to honor its obligations under the North American Free Trade Agreeement (NAFTA), the Mexican Senate would proceed to review all of the 75 treaties that Mexico has with its northern neighbor. These begin with the territories ceded by Mexico in 1848 and extend to security cooperation agreements since 2001.
In short, the Mexican Senator assured me that America will keep California, New Mexico and Arizona and there’s not a slight doubt, repossession is not his intent whatsoever, saying:
“We are not interested in recovering California or Texas, it was another screw up by one of our prior politicians. We are focused on the last thirty years of relevant treaties for their many provisions affecting both parties."
Texas residents continually speak about an improbable modern secession from our country’s union, but absent their own devices, it will not happen.
Since Trump’s calamitous trip south of the border last week, already Mexico's Finance Minister has been forced to resign in a management shakeup clearly aimed at punishing him for suggesting the meeting.
The Mexican President was already deeply unpopular at home, so organizing a meeting uniting the two least popular people in all of Mexico, in the same room was bound to offend the majority of populations both north and south of the border.
This is the result of just a few hours of Trump diplomacy.
A pithy, child’s game in which the Republican nominee for President seeks to offend the most nations, with the least to gain, and generally speaking make an ass out of himself on the world stage.
It's probably the end of the line for the Republican nominee's dreadful "Mexico will pay for the wall" idea too, which is little more than thinly veiled racism.