A New Angle on Trump's Wall

Since he has taken his oath of office, Donald Trump and his administration have been the recipients of non-stop investigations, criticisms, insults, claims of illegitimacy, and calls for impeachment of the president himself. This is not to say that these criticisms and investigations are not warranted. However, beyond this barrage, there are pressing matters that require as much, if not more, attention as the president himself received on a daily basis. One such matter is Trump’s proposed border wall. This wall is something that Trump guarantees will stop, or at least seriously debilitate, illegal drug and human trafficking as well as illegal immigration. While much of the argument against the wall has revolved around what it stands for socio-politically(and normally includes an ad hominem attack on the president) many fail to consider the international-economic ramifications that go along with major changes at the border.

I recently read several articles that covered, and continue to follow, Trump’s recent promise to completely shut down the Southern border if Mexican officials do not stop illegal immigrants from entering the United States from their country. These articles included the usual blasting of the president and mentions of the humanitarian ramifications of closing the border to fleeing refugees and the like. However, one article also mentioned the economic picture that such an action would paint for the global community. This was something I had never considered before.

Whether it is a maritime port of entry or a land border with either of our neighboring countries, our trade outlets have an incredible effect on the global economy. Therefore, the closing of any one of these ports of entry not only has monetary consequences for the domestic GDP of the U.S., but global outlook consequences as well. In the article entitled “Trump adds a deadline on his threat to close the border”, author Maegan Vazquez, writing for CNN, quotes Robert Perez, deputy commissioner for Customs and Border Protection,

“It's Customs and Border Protection at every port of entry. Nearly 400

million travelers a year, $2.3 billion worth of trade, nearly 30 million trucks,

rail cars and cargo containers every year," Perez said. "And so, there (will be) a

severe impact and this is important to understand.”

This quote is particularly significant because it comes from a high-ranking official within the department Trump claims that border closures and wall installations will help. Yet, the deputy commissioner maintains a level of apprehension that Trump does, citing the economic and social consequences of a closure.

America is the single most powerful country in the world. Moreover, it has the largest and most powerful economy. A leading economic forecasting website called Focus Economics has recently the projected GDP of the top economies of the world and the United States has made the top of the list.

“Despite facing challenges at the domestic level along with a rapidly

transforming global landscape, the U.S. economy is still the largest in

the world with a nominal GDP forecast to exceed USD 21 trillion in 2019.”

As the leading economy of the world, America is a sort of economic litmus test for the countries and specifically the ones that do business with the US. If the U.S. does something drastic, such as construct a border wall and/or close a border completely, other countries will panic. In their panic, the global economy suffers and comes back to hurt the U.S. even more in the future. One example of this is the housing market crash of 2008, the origin point of which was the U.S. but the fallout of which spread to countries, the world over.

It is vitally important to at least consider the socio-political ramifications of any major project. We as a society have not had a great track record in doing this and need to do better. However, when the issue is so contentious that a solely humanistic argument is ineffective in highlighting something as a bad idea, it becomes increasingly important to turn to the economic implications of those projects as well, if only to further solidify the project as a good or bad idea. In short, talk money.