US-Mexico trade war could hit Mexico economy, spur migration
US-Mexico trade war could hit Mexico economy, spur migration
MEXICO CITY (AP) — If President Donald Trump makes good on threats to gut NAFTA and impose stiff tariffs on Mexican goods, economists say he risks a trade war that could lead to the very thing he is hoping to avoid — a huge surge in Mexican migration to the United States.
The result would be catastrophe for the Mexican economy. Recession. A dramatic weakening of the peso, even below the historic lows it has already set amid Trump’s bellicose rhetoric. Soaring inflation, interest rates and unemployment.
“Mexico is smaller than the U.S. and can be harmed by conflict more than the U.S. would be,” said Adam Posen, president of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, a Washington think tank that supports free trade.
A trade war with Mexico “drives down the peso and drives down opportunities for Mexicans to make a living in honest manufacturing jobs,” he added. “There will be more desperate Mexicans crossing the border.”
And the U.S. would by no means be immune from the fallout.
US economic growth slowed in Q4, but there’s hope ahead
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy lost momentum in the final three months of 2016 as a downturn in exports temporarily depressed activity. But there were hopeful signs in housing and business investment that the economy will rebound in the coming months.
The gross domestic product grew at an annual rate of just 1.9 percent in the October-December period, a slowdown from 3.5 percent growth in the third quarter, the Commerce Department reported Friday. GDP, the broadest measure of economic health, was held back by a swing in trade with exports of soybeans plunging in the fourth quarter after having surged in the third quarter.
“If you smooth out the volatility in soybeans, you get growth of around 2.5 percent in the two quarters,” said Nariman Behravesh, chief economist at IHS Markit. “We really didn’t have a slowdown at the end of the year.”
For all of 2016, the economy grew 1.6 percent. It was the worst showing in five years since a similar 1.6 percent gain in 2011. GDP grew 2.6 percent in 2015, and since the recession ended in mid-2009, growth has averaged a weak 2.1 percent.
But analysts believe there were signs in Friday’s report of a rebound in business spending and housing activity, which could lead to stronger growth in 2017 of around 2.5 percent.
Businessman accused of attacking Muslim JFK airport worker
NEW YORK (AP) — A businessman attacked a Muslim employee at a Kennedy Airport lounge, kicking her, shouting obscenities at her and saying that President Donald Trump “will get rid of all of you,” authorities said.
Robin Rhodes, of Worcester, Massachusetts, had arrived from Aruba and was awaiting a connecting flight to Massachusetts on Wednesday night when he approached Rabeeya Khan, who wears a hijab, at the Sky Club in Terminal 2 while she was sitting in the utility office, authorities said. Khan is a contracted employee based at the Sky Club and works for a facility services company called ISS, according to Delta.
Khan told police that Rhodes came to the door and went on a profanity-laced tirade, asking her if she was praying, District Attorney Richard A. Brown said. Rhodes then punched the door, which hit the back of Khan’s chair, he said. The 60-year-old Khan asked Rhodes what she had done to him and Rhodes said she’d done nothing, authorities said. He then cursed at her and kicked her in the leg, Khan told police.
When another person tried to calm him down, Rhodes moved away from the door and Khan ran out of the office to the front desk at the club, authorities said. Rhodes, 57, followed her, got down on his knees and began to bow down to imitate Muslim prayers and shouted obscenities, investigators said.
Khan recalled Rhodes saying: “Trump is here now. He will get rid of all of you. You can ask Germany, Belgium and France about these kinds of people. You see what happens,” prosecutors said.
Schools reach beyond ‘Just Say No’ on opioid dangers
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Schools are going beyond “Just Say No” as they teach students as young as kindergartners about the dangers of opioids in the hope that they don’t later become part of the growing crisis.
Some states have begun requiring instruction about prescription drugs and heroin, and districts are updating their anti-drug teachings to move toward interactive and engaging science-based lessons they hope will save lives.
States including Ohio and New York have passed laws requiring that schools include opioid abuse prevention in health education, and Republican New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie pledged to do the same this month.
“The message will be simple and direct and start in kindergarten,” Christie said, “the medicine in Mom and Dad’s medicine cabinet is not safe for you to use just because a doctor gave it to them.”
Savannah Wilson, a 17-year-old junior at State College Area High School in Pennsylvania, said a lesson including the science of opioid addiction and a video with stories from young addicts stuck with her when she got an oxycodone prescription following a recent surgery.