Viernes 1 de Abril 2011


/Nacional California Monitor Why US Needs Immigrant Workers San Diego (San Diego Union Tribune)


got an earful. Mexican Interior Secre- tary Miguel Angel Osorio Chong and Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray told them of Mexico’s displeasure with President Trump’s plans to increase deportations to Mexico, including re- sidents of nations other than Mexico. Kelly offered private and public assu- rances that the U.S. had no intention to launch mass deportations. On the record, Tillerson downplayed diffe- rences, saying the two nations nee- ded to “modernize and strengthen our trade and energy relationship.”


S


ecretary of State Rex Tillerson and Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly


were in Mexico City on Thursday with a dificult task: trying to mend


fences with our southern neighbor when their boss wants to build a real fence.


According to reports, the U.S. oficials Project Syndicate


How to Survive the Trump Era I


Joseph E. Stiglitz* New York


n barely a month, US President Donald Trump has managed to spread chaos and uncertainty – and a degree of fear that would make any terrorist proud – at a dizzying pace. Not surprisingly, citizens and leaders in business, civil society, and government are struggling to res- pond appropriately and effectively.


Any view regarding the way forward is necessarily provisional, as Trump has not yet proposed detailed le- gislation, and Congress and the courts have not fully responded to his barrage of executive orders. But recognition of uncertainty is not a justification for denial.


On the contrary, it is now clear that what Trump says and tweets must be taken seriously. Following the election in November, there was near-universal hope that he would abandon the extremism that defined his campaign. Surely, it was thought, this master of unreality would adopt a different persona as he assumed the awesome responsibility of what is often called the most powerful po- sition in the world.


Something similar happens with every new US president: regardless of whether we voted for the new incumbent, we project onto him our image of what we want him to be.


But, while most elected oficials wel- come being all things to all people, Trump has left no room for doubt that he intends to do what he said: a ban on Muslim immigration, a wall on the border with Mexico, renego- tiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement, repeal of the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reforms, and much else that even his supporters dismissed.


I have, at times, criticized particular aspects and policies of the economic and security order created in the af- termath of World War II, based on the United Nations, NATO, the European Union, and a web of other institu- tions and relationships. But there is a big difference between attempts to reform these institutions and re- lationships to enable them to serve the world better, and an agenda that seeks to destroy them outright.


Trump sees the world in terms of a zero-sum game. In reality, globaliza- tion, if well managed, is a positive- sum force: America gains if its friends and allies – whether Australia, the EU, or Mexico – are stronger. But Trump’s approach threatens to turn it into a negative-sum game: America will lose, too.


That approach was clear from his inaugural address, in which his re-


Infórmate diariamente en MonitorEconomico.com MonitorEconomico.org


peated invocation of “America first,” with its historical fascist overtones, afirmed his commitment to his ugliest schemes. Previous adminis- trations have always taken seriously their responsibility to advance US interests. But the policies they pur- sued usually were framed in terms of an enlightened understanding of national interest. Americans, they believed, benefit from a more pros- perous global economy and a web of alliances among countries commit- ted to democracy, human rights, and the rule of law.


If there is a silver lining in the Trump cloud, it is a new sense of solidarity over core values such as tolerance and equality, sustained by aware- ness of the bigotry and misogyny, whether hidden or open, that Trump and his team embody. And this soli- darity has gone global, with Trump and his allies facing rejection and protests throughout the democratic world.


In the US, the American Civil Liber- ties Union, having anticipated that Trump would quickly trample on individual


rights, has shown that


it is as prepared as ever to defend key constitutional principles such as due process, equal protection, and oficial neutrality with respect to religion. And, in the past month,


Americans have supported the ACLU with millions of dollars in donations. Similarly, across the country, com- panies’ employees and customers have expressed their concern over CEOs and board members who support Trump. Indeed, as a group, US corporate leaders and investors have become Trump’s enablers. At this year’s World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, many sa- livated over his promises of tax cuts and deregulation, while eagerly ig- noring his bigotry – not mentioning it in a single meeting that I attended – and protectionism.


Even more worrying was the lack of courage: it was clear that many of those who were concerned about Trump were afraid to raise their voi- ces, lest they (and their companies’ share price) be targeted by a tweet. Pervasive fear is a hallmark of autho- ritarian regimes, and we are now seeing it in the US for the first time in my adult life.


As a result, the importance of the rule of law, once an abstract concept to many Americans, has become concrete. Under the rule of law, if the government wants to prevent firms from outsourcing and offshoring, it enacts legislation and adopts re- gulations to create the appropriate incentives and discourage undesi-


rable behavior. It does not bully or threaten particular firms or portray traumatized refugees as a security threat.


America’s leading media, like The New York Times and The Washington Post, have so far refused to normali- ze Trump’s abnegation of American values. It is not normal for the US to have a president who rejects judicial independence; replaces the most se- nior military and intelligence oficials at the core of national security poli- cymaking with a far-right media zea- lot; and, in the face of North Korea’s latest ballistic missile test, promotes his daughter’s business ventures.


But when we are constantly barra- ged by events and decisions that are beyond the pale, it is easy to become numb and to begin looking past ma- jor abuses of power at the still-grea- ter travesties to come. One of the main challenges in this new era will be to remain vigilant and, whenever and wherever necessary, to resist.


*Recipient of the Nobel Memorial Pri- ze in Economic Sciences in 2001 and the John Bates Clark Medal in 1979, is University Professor at Columbia University, Co-Chair of the High- Level Expert Group on the Measure- ment of Economic Performance and Social Progress at the OECD


27


U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, left, and Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray give remarks after their meeting in Mexico City on Thursday. Mexican Interior Secretary Miguel Angel Osorio Chong is at far right.


U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, left, and Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray give remarks after their meeting in Mexico City on Thursday. Mexican Interior Secretary Miguel Angel Osorio Chong is at far right. (Susana Gonzalez / berg)


Bloom-


But this came just hours after Trump met with manufacturing CEOs, bra- gging about his immigration crack- down “getting really bad dudes out of this country and at a rate that nobody has ever seen before” and calling the present U.S. trade rela- tionship with Mexico “unsustainable” because of the United States’ annual “$70 billion” trade deficit with its NAFTA partner (actually $58 billion, according to the most recent oficial U.S. data).


Thursday’s events could be an illus- tration of what columnist Charles Krauthammer describes as a “good- cop, bad-cop” approach — Trump being belligerent and his high-ran- king subordinates being conciliatory — which Krauthammer thinks “per- haps” could be effective.


But when you live in a region so hel- ped by strong ties to Mexico, what the Trump administration is doing doesn’t feel like a coherent strategy. It feels inconsistent, more like moc- kery. An NPR analysis of Thursday’s events said Mexico was looking for “clarity” out of the Trump adminis- tration. Many of us in San Diego and the U.S. want the same thing.


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