I\u2019m not ready to live without avocados. I grew up in southern California, where avocados are ubiquitous, served cubed in salads, on toast topped with seasoned salt, eaten alone with a squeeze of lemon, and of course as guacamole. It\u2019s California soul food.<\/p>\n
I remember feeding my daughter mashed avocado when she was just a baby. It was winter time and the avocados were pricey. I bought just one. First I mashed up a quarter of the avocado for her. She was delighted. With persistent guttural grunts, she begged for more. So I mashed up another quarter and served it to her, as I turned the other half into guacamole for my husband and me. She wolfed it down and continued to beg for more and would not touch her other food. I shook my head and told her there was no more. When she saw the guacamole come to the table she pointed emphatically and blasted us with noises that sounded more like someone gagging rather than someone attempting to speak. So I gave her a dollop of the salsa-enhanced avocado. She gulped it and her eyes bulged. Her surprise turned to shock, then horror. Not for long. By the time she was 2 years old she ate all manner of spicy foods \u2014 her choice not mine. Guacamole remains a favorite.<\/p>\n
I do digress.<\/p>\n
We Americans get about half of our fruits and vegetables from Mexico, according to NBC. Mexico is a major trading partner, not just for imports. Mexico ranks third, as our top agricultural trading partner according to the Congressional Research Service<\/a>.<\/p>\n Mexico bought more dairy, poultry and corn from us than any other foreign country in 2017.<\/p>\n I guess after the tariff debacle, President Donald Trump is looking to further betray his agricultural base. Yeah, let\u2019s throw the farmers under the bus. That\u2019ll be a good way to placate fearful, xenophobic, Fox-informed Trump sycophants.<\/p>\n The U.S. Chamber of Commerce says closing the U.S.-Mexico border would \u201cproduce an economic calamity.\u201d And not just in agricultural products. \u201cThe North American auto industry will be crippled\u201d in a week if the border closes, tweeted Kristin Dziczek<\/a>, vice president of industry, labor and economics at the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Michigan.<\/p>\n National Public Radio\u2019s Marketplace reports auto parts move back and forth across the U.S. border about eight times! Seems inefficient to me. Dziczek explains labor-intensive parts are made in Mexico to save money \u2014 like wiring harnesses. She told CNN Business<\/a> more than 70% of wire harnesses come from Mexico. Much of the rest of the harnesses arrive at the US-Mexican border from countries south of Mexico.<\/p>\n She told CNN Business, \u201cIt\u2019s one of the first pieces you install when you\u2019re assembling a car,\u201d she said. \u201cYou can\u2019t build the whole car and slap the wire harness in later. This is a big critical part that shuts down the assembly line if you don\u2019t have it.\u201d She also told CNN there are many other critical parts, from seat belt anchors to engine components that also come from Mexico, and can\u2019t be replaced by U.S. factories any time soon.<\/p>\n Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said \u201cClosing down the border would have a potentially catastrophic economic impact on our country. I would hope that we would not be doing that sort of thing.\u201d The Chamber estimates $1.7 billion in trade moves between Mexico and the U.S. every single day. In 2018, Mexican imports of U.S. goods set an all-time record high. Mexico imports more from the U.S. than any other trading partner.<\/p>\n These statistics don\u2019t seem to concern the president. The New York Times reports, Trump said, \u201cSure, it\u2019s going to have a negative impact on the economy, but security is most important. Security is more important to me than trade.\u201d Maybe someone should explain to Trump if there\u2019s no trade, fewer people will be staying in his hotels and golfing at his clubs. He seems to have a myopic view of the world the rest of us live in.<\/p>\n What happens when your car breaks down and you find out there are no parts because they are made in Mexico? And if you think for one minute they\u2019ll fly them in, the U.S. Department of transportation reports<\/a> that 80% of our trade with Mexico is shipped by rail or truck.<\/p>\n