Texans worry about trade with Mexico under Donald Trump

By E.G. | AUSTIN, TEXAS

TIME is precious in the Texas legislature, which meets for just 140 days every other year. Since January 10th, when the 85th regular session began, nearly 8,000 bills and resolutions have been filed. Many of them will quietly die of neglect. And yet earlier this month, the Texas House’s International Trade and Intergovernmental Affairs Committee announced that it would take the time to reflect, learn and grow. “We are not gonna hear a lot of bills in this committee,” said Rafael Anchia, a Democratic representative who serves as the committee’s chair, calling the hearing to order. “We are gonna learn and we are gonna raise consciousness in this body about international trade and how important it is to Texas.” As an example, he cited Texas’s ties to its trading partner and neighbour, Mexico.

Over the next few hours a clear consensus emerged. Carlos González Gutiérrez, the Consul General of Mexico in Austin, said that no other state in America had benefited from the North American Free-Trade Agreement (NAFTA) as Texas had. “What you sell to my country is worth 6% of your state GDP, compared to 1.3% nationally,” he said. No one disagreed. “Geography’s not going to change,” observed Chris Wilson of the Wilson Center’s Mexico Institute, one of the several experts who, having been summoned for the occasion, gave testimony via Skype. Nor could the past be undone. “We have, over time, created a joint manufacturing platform between the United States and Mexico,” Mr Wilson said. “There truly is no such thing as a ‘Mexican’ car.”