Seven arguments (with statistics) to shut Donald Trump up about Mexico

Donald Trump does not represent the United States and drug trafficking does not represent Mexico. Beyond the stereotypes, there is a deep and mutually beneficial relationship between the two countries. The American mogul’s invectives calling for the construction of a wall to hold back the US’s supposedly lazy and dangerous neighbors fall within the sphere of xenophobic demagoguery and crumble under the least bit of analysis. Here are seven arguments – with statistics – to shut Trump up.

The money proof. There is no better measure of confidence than money. And between 1999 and 2012, the United States invested $153 billion in Mexico. This huge influx represented 50 percent of total direct investment into the country. No one else invested more. Therefore, no one else showed more faith. Except Trump, of course.

Six million US jobs depend on trade with Mexico and business between the two countries generates $1 million a minute

What Bill Gates, Ford and Walmart think of Mexico. Money is not the only important thing. Who puts up the funds is also relevant. The United States, the paradise of the big trading centers, has sent its top businesses to Mexico. Microsoft has invested $2.25 billion, Ford has put in $2.1 billion, GM is there with $1.34 billion, as is Walmart with $1.28 billion. They have all invested their money and prestige – and created one or two scandals – on Mexican soil. Trump’s empire is a home shopping network compared to these giants. Who would you trust?

More than friends, they are partners. Nothing unites two parties as well as a good commercial relationship. Both countries belong to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and Mexico is the United States’ second-most-important trading partner, it is the largest market for exports from California, Arizona and Texas and the second-largest for 20 other states. About six million US jobs depend on trade with Mexico and business between the two countries generates around $1 million a minute. Does anyone believe that Mexico only imports rapists and drug traffickers, as Trump claims?

Mexican United States. Mexico is passionate about its northern neighbor. It not only sends the United States 80 percent of its exports, it also shares its best people. Of the almost 12 million Mexicans who live abroad, 97.8 percent of them reside in the United States, more than 250 times the number of Mexicans living in Spain, the motherland. Even more important than the immigrants are their sons and daughters. In 2012, 34 million Mexicans and their relatives lived in Trump’s country, making up 11 percent of the American population. Aren’t they enough to put an end to any kind of prejudice?

More cultured and more educated.The United States’ Mexican population does not fit the rough profile Trump paints of it. Resident Mexicans are an active and determined group who keep on improving. In 1990, only 25 percent of them had attended high school but that number reached 41 percent two decades later. And today, despite facing the obstacles that come with any large migration, two thirds of them speak perfect English and almost half are homeowners.

The common language. Trump launched his insults in English. A language that came to North America after Spanish. Today, more than 53 million people in the United States speak Spanish. It is the second-most-important language in the land and the US’s Spanish-speaking community is the second largest in the world, behind Mexico’s. It is not something that belongs to “the others.” The language and culture are essential parts of the United States.

United forever. Borders, despite Trump’s insistence, are unifying. The US-Mexico frontier, the longest in the world, spans 3,142 kilometers. It would be hard for any wall to slow down the flow of human traffic across this immense shared territory whose dividing line is crossed by a million people and 300,000 vehicles every day.

Any takers?

Sources: American embassy in Mexico, Mexican Foreign Affairs Secretariat, International Monetary Fund, and the Pew Research Center.