President Joe Biden needs to put the American foot down and regain some international clout by scaring Mexico back into line.
In an interview with 60 Minutes, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador confidently puffed his chest at America. He refused to rein in the cartels that are pumping fentanyl into America through its open border. He followed it up with a threat: If Biden does not send $20 billion a year in aid to Latin America and the Caribbean, end the embargo on Cuba, end the sanctions on Venezuela, and grant amnesty for all Mexicans living illegally in the United States, then “the flow of migrants will continue.”
In a few days, a caravan of 2,000 foreigners is planning on reaching the border near El Paso, Texas. As they march, they chant “to the border” and claim, “We are not criminals; we are international workers.”
The El Paso border was the site last week of a wild mob of hundreds of foreign military-age men violently breaking through one layer of fence and bulldozing over a handful of guards, only to be fortunately stopped by a Trump-era wall layer.
The time for inaction is over on this matter. Biden has an obligation to do his duty and start cracking down on illegal immigration. At the same time, he needs to stop making America look so pathetic on the world stage, letting himself get pushed around by weaker world leaders.
Biden should puff his chest back at Obrador even harder by threatening to impose heavy tariffs on Mexican imports if he does not step back into line and help him stop illegal immigration into the United States.
This would greatly trouble Mexico because America is by far its largest trade partner. In 2022, Mexico exported 76.8% of its products to America for $421 billion; 55.6% of Mexico’s imports worth $294 billion came from America. While Mexico remains an incredibly important trade partner for America as well, possible sanctions would not cause even comparable harm to the latter’s economy. Mexico’s reliance on American trade puts it at a disadvantage here.
This does not mean Biden will actually end up doing this so much as it is a display of power. All Biden needs to do is brandish America’s economic sword in Obrador’s face to make him concede defeat.
Former President Donald Trump did this with great success. In May 2019, he informed Mexico that he would impose a 5% tariff on all Mexican goods that would increase 5% each month until Mexico cracked down on illegal immigration. Less than two weeks later, Mexican officials came to an agreement with Trump, so he dropped the tariffs indefinitely.
Many illegal immigrants send money back to their homelands after earning it in America. In 2023, Mexicans sent $63 billion to their country. If Mexico still refuses to comply, Biden could really tighten the screws by taxing those remittances. He is unlikely to do this because it would enrage his voter base, but it would greatly increase the likelihood of Mexico cooperating.
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This strategic foreign policy move would significantly decrease the number of illegal immigrants trying to enter the U.S. as well as provide a solid incentive for them to avoid attempting their perilous journeys north. It will also recover some much-needed respect for American authority around the world.
Seeing as one of if not the most important concerns for and sources of discontent from voters is illegal immigration, Biden would be wise to pressure Mexico to comply if he wants to have any genuinely positive decisions from his presidential term in this field to point back to.
Parker Miller is a 2024 Washington Examiner Winter Fellow.
