President Trump moved aggressively to tighten the nation's immigration controls Wednesday, signing executive actions to jumpstart construction of his promised U.S.-Mexico border wall. But President Trump’s immigration and trade policies could jeopardize that economic relationship, warn local officials, residents and researchers studying border economies. In his first days in office, Trump has vowed to begin construction on a border wall within months and renegotiate the 23-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement. The construction of a permanent border will likely provide cheap temporary labor, he said, but destroy border economies in the long run. This week, Trump's executive order for the border wall construction caused stock prices to jump for Cemex SAB, a Mexican cement company that is the largest cement maker in the Americas.

Source: Washington Post January 26, 2017 21:20 UTC