As of the end of 2023, the US has made Mexico (by dollar volume). . . its number one import trading partner.

As of year end, this means China has been moved down a peg, to number two. [In truth we still import lots of Chinese minerals for EV batteries, and APIs, the “raw materials” for drugs — as well as silicon chips, storage devices and circuits, obviously.]

But instead of live blogging the Supremes this morning (we are confident that Tangerine will lose the Colorado case), I thought I’d note the irony of Texas’s unlawful cruelty to people arriving — seeking asylum — at our southern border, all while Texans enjoy the vast benefit of having less expensive farm goods, finely-woven cotton cloth clothing, and textiles in their homes, all sourced out of or through… Mexico. The tractor/heavy duty truck parts in Catepillar machinery rolling around in East Texas… they too almost all are built in Mexico, by highly-skilled, but lower wage-earning… Mexican workers.

And that’s before we talk about all the labor people without documents do, inside Texas — while paying US taxes, in full — to keep Texas restaurants open, parks clean, trees trimmed and gardens looking lovely. [And any Texan with eyes, and a heart well knows this: the state would close up, were it not for all the undocumented people helping them, and even caring for their children, in their homes… day by day.]

Mr. Biden realizes we need to treat our No. 1 trading partner with more respect. Tangerine never did. And despite his bluster, he regularly sucked up to the autocratic Xi.

The times… they are… a’ changin’… grin. Be excellent to one another.

नमस्ते