From CalMatters’ Wendy Fry on the U.S.-Mexico border:
Gov. Gavin Newsom visited the U.S.-Mexico border Thursday, railing towards President-elect Donald Trump’s tariff threats and the financial injury a 25% tax on items coming from Mexico would seemingly have on the binational area and the state.
“Is the president-elect embarrassed by his own leadership as it relates to what he often describes as his USMCA?” Newsom requested, referring to the free commerce settlement among the many U.S., Mexico and Canada. “Did he do something wrong with that agreement that now he wants to throw it out completely and impose a 25% tax increase on the American people?”
Newsom stated no state nor any area could be extra impacted by tariffs than California and CaliBaja, however he pressured that the nationwide financial system would additionally undergo. “Don’t think for a second this won’t impact you,” he warned.
“Forgive me, I didn’t want to make this too political,” he later added, although main the resistance towards Trump might increase his personal political ambitions.
The governor additionally spoke about immigration, fentanyl and highlighted the continued enlargement of the Otay Mesa East Port of Entry in San Diego. Newsom’s go to comes because the nation prepares for a dramatic shift in federal management subsequent month, and as Trump guarantees mass deportations of undocumented immigrants.
Otay Mesa East presents a border narrative that challenges Trump’s philosophy, Newsom stated. Trump typically paints an image of the border as a harmful, lawless place that needs to be shut down and walled off. However the brand new port of entry can enhance commerce and enhance safety, the governor stated.
Considerably delayed in development, the $1.1 billion undertaking is now slated for completion in December 2027. “We’ve been talking about this Otay East Port of Entry since quite literally the late 1990s,” Newsom stated, including that Trump supported the undertaking in 2018.
Otay Mesa East was deliberate to alleviate congestion on the border, cut back wait occasions and bolster financial ties with Mexico, California’s largest buying and selling associate. Mexico purchases roughly 19% of all California exports. In 2023, California exported to Mexico roughly $33.3 billion value of productsreminiscent of laptop and digital tools, transportation tools and processed meals, based on the California Chamber of Commerce.
As a lot as crossing the border must be quick, California’s governor additionally acknowledged it must be safe, calling consideration to the counternarcotics work finished by the California Nationwide Guard. In 2023, it seized 62,000 kilos of fentanyl, he stated. The state is rising that operation with a concentrate on contraband flowing southbound. The State Division is contemplating an software for Nationwide Guard members to assist practice and assist Mexican navy personnel.
- Newsom: “A big part of what happens on the other side of the border, as it relates to violence, is happening with American-made weapons that come south to Mexico from America. And we need to do a better job to attach a focus, responsibility and energy in that space.”
