Mexican standoff over tariffs is theater of the absurd

But a tariff isn't an attack on a foreign country. It's a tax on U.S. consumers. So if Trump had followed through -- which he insists he still might do if Mexico doesn't keep its promises -- the folks who would have paid the consequences live on this side of the border.

It occurs to me that the relationship between Mexicans and Americans is very give-and-take. They give, we take.

Mexicans already clean our homes, cut our lawns, fix our roofs, cook our food, wash our dishes, care for our elderly, wipe our kids' noses, build our houses, care for our pets, shop for our groceries, tend to our livestock, pick our crops, make our beds and make our lives easier in countless other ways. If you're living an upper-middle-class lifestyle despite only earning middle-class wages, because you can afford housekeepers and nannies at bargain prices, thank the Mexicans. If you're at all comforted by the fact that the Social Security system is bolstered by millions of dollars paid into the system by undocumented immigrants who will never collect what they put in, that's the Mexicans, too.

Still, Trump wants the Mexicans to do even more -- and fix our broken immigration system. Americans wrecked it over the last few decades by injecting racism, letting employers off the hook, giving family unification priority over the needs of our labor market and failing to create adequate avenues for people to immigrate legally. So naturally it's up to the Mexicans to restore order.

It's bizarre. The same people who used to tell us that we couldn't trust Mexico to control immigration into the United States now assure us that we can trust Mexico to control immigration into the United States.

It's also illogical. Here immigration restrictionists have spent decades insisting that Mexico is inferior, dysfunctional and corrupt. And now we're supposed to believe that -- even with its flaws -- our neighbor can save us from our own destiny.

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Ruben Navarrette's email address is ruben@rubennavarrette.com. His daily podcast, "Navarrette Nation," is available through every podcast app.