In the wreckage-filled wake of Trump’s temper tantrum outbursts and ill-conceived, ill-intended executive orders about his HUGE, beautiful Wall and about who will be stuck with the bill (the American taxpayer and/or the American consumer), Mexicans and the Mexican government have reacted as any independent, proud people would.
Mexico’s President Enrique Peña Nieto canceled his planned visit to the United States, to which the thin-skinned president’s immediate, belligerent response was a warning that the U.S. could impose a 20 percent tariff on Mexican imports.
The New York Times calls this “tariff tantrum” the most recent “in a head-spinning torrent of lies, dangerous policy ideas and threats from the White House since Mr. Trump was sworn in last Friday.” The Times continues:
They have underscored just how impulsive and apparently ignorant the new occupant of the Oval Office is of international economic and security relationships that serve American interests. His advisers appear unwilling to rein in his impulses or, as in the case of the tariff, hapless as they struggle to tamp them down.
As so many thinking people have pointed out, such a tariff will drive up not only the cost of many produce in American grocery stores, but also the cost of cars, electronics, and airplanes and, the saddest of all, the price of America’s much beloved Mexican beer and Tequila.
Millions of Americans love Mexican beer and some of the other Mexican liquor and liqueurs.
So, just as many critics of undocumented immigrants have hypocritically chanted in the past “Don’t touch my undocumented maid or pool boy” we are now seeing a movement -- even among the pro-Wall, anti-immigration folks -- of “Don’t tax my Dos Equis.”
While Senator Lindsey Graham is for reasonable and humane immigration reform and for better border security, he tweeted his disapproval of such tariffs explaining, “Mexico is 3rd largest trading partner. Any tariff we can levy they can levy. Huge barrier to econ growth.”
Graham then focused on the impact of such tariffs on the cost of beer and margaritas:
Simply put, any policy proposal which drives up costs of Corona, tequila, or margaritas is a big-time bad idea. Mucho Sad.
While the “Mucho Sad” should have been “Muy triste,” the Senator expressed his support for beer drinkers of America more than adequately and it is perhaps the humor in the use of those two words that really clinched the deal -- at least for this beer drinker.
Of course there are many much more serious ramifications of and consequences to Trump’s present trade and foreign policy toward Mexico. The Times’ Editorial Board warns of the disastrous consequences such policies would have “for workers and consumers in both countries, given how tightly intertwined the two economies have become since the North American Free Trade Agreement went into effect in 1994.” (Read more here.)
And of course, Mexicans and many other Latin Americans are deeply offended and disappointed by Trump’s obvious animus toward them, in particular towards immigrants, and by his drive to allegedly “Make America Great Again” at their expense.
Since Mexican beer has become a popular subject, it is perhaps appropriate to ask a Mexican beer manufacturer for a reaction.
It just so happens that on Tuesday the Mexican beer conglomerate Modelo, owner of Corona -- one of the five largest selling beers in the world -- launched a great video commercial in answer to Trump’s “Make America Great Again.”
The purpose of the video is to highlight the values of America, its culture and to prevent division among its inhabitants.
It is important to note that by “America” the Modelo Group is referring to all countries that make up what is commonly referred as “The Americas,” consisting of North, South and Central America -- 35 independent countries with more than 1 billion proud people.
In answer to Trump’s slogan, the Modelo group says:
“We are all America. America is the land of opportunity, a land of more than one billion people…A wilderness America. A multicultural America. A united America. Please stop using our name to incite divisions, that is not who we are… We are a diverse people and we are proud of our colors…we are the lungs of the world…we are a Continent that roars."
Please watch the fascinating and inspiring video below.
This is not the first time that a Mexican company has launched a campaign against the anti-immigrant diatribe of Trump. A few months ago, Tecate launched a commercial mocking, in a constructive way, Trump’s proposal to build the Wall.
Please watch.
Y esta cerveza es para ti, Americano.
Source of Modelo commercial information: "La cerveza Corona le responde al "Make America Great Again" de Donald Trump"