We will definitely have a different country starting Jan. 20. On that date, Donald Trump will take office as the new President of the United States. The changes he promised during his campaign and that he continues to claim he will fulfill are worrying.
I will simply mention two of them that, if actually implemented, will bring strong consequences.
The first is the threat of mass deportations of undocumented immigrants. This will strongly affect our local community, where thousands of farmworkers live, many of them undocumented. Aside from the tragedy of family separations, the question is, who will harvest the crops? If the raids reach the San Joaquin Valley, the local economy will suffer in two ways: The income of local farms will be significantly reduced, and the prices of agricultural products will increase significantly.
I wonder what the reaction of the leaders of agricultural companies—mostly Republicans and many of them Trump supporters—will be. Will they have the courage to protest? Or will they grovel before their master like many of the “leaders” of the tech industry, trying to secure their profits. For more details on the impact of undocumented labor on our economy, see our article, “Minority Rule: Disastrous and Cruel,” on page one.
Trump’s other threat that will have immediate consequences is to raise tariffs by 25% on goods produced in Mexico and Canada. (He also wants to raise tariffs on Chinese products.) These countries will do the same with U.S. products.
Virtually every product we see in stores—and that we consume—is built or produced in those countries. That means that almost everything we consume will cost 25% more.
Not bad for the start of a new administration.
Till next month.
