Make North America great again

Dear President Trump,

Mexico and the United States share more than a border or a geographic location in the North American continent. We have shared many challenges, and both nations have taken a walk together to progress. But today this relation is threatened by you, the new President, saying that we Mexicans have taken advantage of the U.S.

You may be a fierce negotiator and an old-school businessman, but as a political leader you don’t understand how the world works. Your outdated solutions don’t apply to today’s needs. All nations know that we depend on each other. What affects one will affect us all. Your wish for progress for the United States cannot be the result of actions that put everyone else at risk — especially not your most important trading partner and friend.

You have called Mexican politicians tricky and have stated your intention of changing the rules of the game. In and outside the United States, all kinds of voices have risen — economists, politicians, business leaders, ordinary people — saying that the trading alliance between Mexico, Canada and the U.S. has brought competitiveness to North America, and that much of the world’s growth and economic stability depends on us.

You don’t like to be challenged. But your idea of tearing up NAFTA has caused business leaders and politicians from all three nations to come together to call for the continuation of this win-win policy. In recent days, American agriculture companies wrote you a letter, asking you to be cautious about NAFTA, since this treaty has brought large earnings in that sector in the U.S.

Inexplicably, you have decided to treat Mexico like a piñata, throwing every punch you can, justifying yourself with topics like the border and the trade deficit that the U.S. has with Mexico — some $60 billion, far less what the U.S. has with other partners like China, Japan and the European Union. In your stubbornness, you have lost sight of the competitiveness that both nations have reached thanks to NAFTA.

You are choosing to lead your nation with threats and intimidation. You are sending messages to global corporations and forcing them not to invest in Mexico, even-though the economic and investment conditions were what saved Ford, GM and Chrysler from going bankrupt in 2008.

Mexico is a nation that needs bridges, not walls. Our geographic location makes us the link between North America and South America. If you carry out your plan, not only will Mexico lose investments and competitiveness, but the U.S. and Canada will be seriously affected in their trading activities. And in the end, it’s your consumers who will be to be the most affected. The world is watching.

Finally, I’d like to remind you, Trump, that the best “wall” to abolish migration and violence is to work toward social development and well-being for our people. Señor Trump: North America is one, and it can be as great as we want to make it.

Sincerely,

Vicente Fox, former president of Mexico