re: CNN: If Trump threatens remittances, Mexico will walk from negotiations

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We have a royal flush and they are going all in. I like our odds.

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I know that for some of you youngsters, travelers checks are relics from the era of cassette tape players, but do you even understand how they are bought and how they work? Have you ever used one?

Kindly explain how Uncle Sam would ever know who you wrote the check to or where it ended up.

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Leverage. We have it all, they have none.

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TSA really has no legal means to seize the money but I wouldn't trust Mexican officials on the other end of the flight not to take you into the back room with a suitcase full of cash.

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Also they've changed their minds on not attending the meeting

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Donald J. Trump ?@realDonaldTrump 9m9 minutes ago

The U.S. has a 60 billion dollar trade deficit with Mexico. It has been a one-sided deal from the beginning of NAFTA with massive numbers...

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Donald J. Trump ?@realDonaldTrump 5m5 minutes ago

of jobs and companies lost. If Mexico is unwilling to pay for the badly needed wall, then it would be better to cancel the upcoming meeting.

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Safe to say you don't know what a free trade agreement is.

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However, one of the key drivers of manufacturing growth in Mexico is the country's expansive free trade agreements, which have completely transformed its economy and industry. In fact, The Observatory of Economic Complexity reported Mexico is currently the 15th largest export economy in the world and in 2013, the country exported $379 billion worth of goods and imported a total of $355 billion.

As ProMexico pointed out, Mexico boasts a network of 13 FTAs with 45 different counties, 32 Reciprocal Investment Promotion and Protection Agreements with 33 countries, 9 trade agreements within the framework of the Latin American Integration Association

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Tariffs and trade

Why are so many non-U.S. automakers choosing Mexico? It's not just low wages, though Mexican auto workers make about 18 percent of what U.S. counterparts do, saving $600 on assembling a midsize Ford Fusion, according to the CAR. The real key is having free trade deals with more of the rest of the world than the United States, Swiecki said. On a Fusion sent to Europe, just the tariff difference from producing in Mexico saves Ford $2,500, while on a more expensive BMW or Audi, the difference is even more. And labor cost savings don't rise much as the cars get more expensive, but the potential gains from avoided export taxes do, he said.

That pushes many (but not all) automakers into a decision to build cheap cars in Mexico, where the labor savings are a bigger part of the price. Larger cars and trucks bound for U.S. consumers get made in the United States, and makers of cars headed for South America or Europe, at any price point, have a built-in reason to pick Mexico.

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