(06-07-2019, 09:51 AM)The Real Marty Wrote:

(06-07-2019, 09:47 AM)mikesez Wrote: If tariffs against China really are retaliation for them not respecting IP laws, the punishment at least fits the crime.
That's not the case with Mexico.
Whether or not Mexico prevents Central Americans from reaching its northern border has nothing to do with the cost of producing things in Mexico.

But we definitely want the Mexican government to stop Central Americans from coming through Mexico's Southern border on their way to the United States.  So Trump is taking advantage of the presently strong US economy to pressure Mexico to do something.

If the Mexican government didn't know for sure that these hundreds of thousands of migrants from south of them were definitely going to leave Mexico at the Northern Mexican border, they would have sealed their Southern border by now, right?  They just let them walk through, because they're not staying in Mexico.  Pretty inexcusable, don't you think?

I wouldn't make any of those assumptions.
Mexico's motivations are opaque and many of its officials are corrupt.
Regardless of that, I think we can say that if someone is actively doing something, and you want them to stop, you give a punishment.
If someone is passively failing to do something, shame could work, but cash money usually works best. Punishment just creates ill-will in that case.
A couple of years ago, the EU paid Turkey to start trying to keep Syrian refugees in their country  rather than letting them continue to Europe.  And it  worked! If you want someone  to do something for you, that will cost them money, that is not necessarily in their own interest, offer to help pay.

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