A top official in the Mexican government warns that walls and tariffs could have a damaging effect on the Florida economy.
In an interview this week with the Orlando Sentinel, Kenneth Smith Ramos, head of the Trade and NAFTA Office of the Mexican Ministry of the Economy, said his country has a $8.3 billion trade relationship with Florida, including $2.7 billion in exports from the Sunshine State in 2015. That makes Mexico Florida’s third largest export market.
About 300,000 Florida jobs depend on trade with Mexico, he said, and more than 10,000 people are employed in Florida by 761 Mexican-owned companies.
At the same time, Ramos insisted that Mexico would not pay for the proposed border wall promised by President Donald Trump, who himself insisted multiple times during his campaign – and once in office – that Mexico would end up paying for the estimated $12 billion to $15 billion cost.
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said the U.S. would impose as much as a 20 percent import tariff – or “border adjustment tax” – on Mexican goods, before backing away and calling the proposal just one idea.
Trump also has threatened an overall 35 percent tariff on American companies with production in other countries.
Already there has been push back from Trump’s own party on a tariff increase. U.S. Sen. David Perdue, R-Georgia, said in a statement Wednesday that the tariff “is regressive, hammers consumers and shuts down economic growth. … The clear effect of the proposed border adjustment tax is an increase in consumer prices.”
Ramos, who was at Walt Disney World this week for the National Turkey Federation annual conference at the Grand Floridian Resort, said tariffs “are not the solution.”
“That would impact consumer goods that people don’t necessary [realize] are exported to the U.S.,” he said. “Flat screen TVs — made in Mexicali, Mexico and combined with parts from the U.S. and abroad – retail for $700 and would go up to $1,000 or $1,100.
“HP tablets are very popular in the market,” he added. “All of a sudden, they’d go from costing $600 to costing $900 in the U.S. market.”
Among the biggest exports to Mexico from Florida are turbojets, gas turbines, aerospace components, telecom parts, fertilizers and even yachts. Florida imports from Mexico large numbers of computer and TV parts, vehicles, medical and surgical implements and fruits.
“Mexico is the number one exporter of meat products from the U.S.,” Ramos said, adding that large numbers of cheese, beans, rice, barley, apples and pears also move across the border.
As for the immediate future, the two countries will begin trade discussions as soon as U.S. Cabinet and subcabinet level positions are in place, he said.
NAFTA, the trade agreement that eliminated tariffs and streamlined trade with Mexico, “can be upgraded and modernized,” Ramos said. “But we don’t want to see any situation where we’re backtracking. Anything that increases tariffs and [adds] monetary restrictions is not acceptable.”
The key in negotiations, Ramos said, is that “we don’t want to go down the route of engaging in an adversarial manner with the U.S. We don’t want to erect barriers. … That’s the equivalent of shooting itself in the foot.”
About 500 miles of the 2,000-mile long U.S.-Mexico border already has some kind of a wall, Ramos said, and enhancing security is an issue on the table. Already, U.S. Customs officials are allowed on the Mexican side of the border for the first time after Mexico changed its laws to allow them.
But many crossing areas have been also improved and widened to help the flow of goods across the border, he said, and any new wall would have an immediate physical effect on trade as well as an economic effect.
“Clearly, Mexico is not going to pay for anything involving the building of a wall on the U.S. side,” he said. “Instead of thinking about building walls, I think we should be thinking about building bridges of trade.”
slemongello@orlandosentinel.com, 407-418-5920 or @stevelemongello
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Kenneth Smith Ramos, a top official in the Mexican govenment, warns that a border wall and tariffs could have a drastic impact on Florida’s economy.
Kenneth Smith Ramos, a top official in the Mexican govenment, warns that a border wall and tariffs could have a drastic impact on Florida’s economy.
Democrats held a last-ditch, 24-hour Senate debate in hope of shaking loose one additional vote.
Democrats held a last-ditch, 24-hour Senate debate in hope of shaking loose one additional vote.
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