美国国家公共电台 NPR Former Mexican President To Trump: 'If You Want To Build A Wall, Waste Your Money'

 

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:

Vicente Fox made history in Mexico when he became the first president to break 71 years of one-party rule. These days, the former leader is taking aim at the U.S. president on Twitter and on air. And now Vicente Fox has also written a book called, "Let's Move On: Beyond Fear & False Profits." And he joins me now in our studios. Welcome to the program. Bienvenido.

VICENTE FOX: Thank you, Lulu. Muchisima gracias. And it's a great book.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: (Laughter).

FOX: I want to be very humble¹, but it's a strong message. I'm building bridges instead of walls.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Yeah. Well, you've made a lot of news here with your attacks on President Trump². What is the message of this book?

FOX: Well, the message is the importance of the relationship between Mexico, United States and Canada - really, NAFTA - the North American region. And I think it's key and crucial that we keep ourselves united and that we keep being the largest consumer market in the world. And we have to be clear that this is the region that must lead the world.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Right now, of course, President Donald Trump is in discussions to renegotiate NAFTA. He's also threatened to possibly even do away with it. Those negotiations³ have been quite tense. He says that the United States has a disadvantage with NAFTA because of an enormous trade deficit⁴ with Mexico, which is not doing any favors to the economy of the United States.

FOX: It's not enormous. It's not the largest. China is much larger deficit - same as Europe, same as Germany. As a matter of fact, United States has a deficit with every single economy that it trades with. So the business of United States is not to have a surplus⁵ in trading. It's much more important to have opportunity to participate in all those markets around the world.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: You're very blunt⁶ in this book, as you have been in real life, on your opinions on President Trump. And you write, (reading) why do I care so much about the United States and Donald Trump? Well, what would you do if your neighbor's house were on fire? Would you sit there and watch just because it's not your house, or would you try to help? Your words. My question is, what do you hope to achieve? A former Mexican president taking shots at the sitting American leader may offend many of the people you hope to persuade.

FOX: No. What I want to attain⁷ is this strength that we can only have through partnering with the United States. What we trade the United States and Canada is approaching now a trillion - a trillion - this is a million millions of dollars of trading, which makes us very strong - the region. Now, what I don't want to see is this weakening. What I don't want to see is United States building a wall. What for?

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Well, the president says at least one reason is that your country is going through a vicious⁸ drug war. 2017 was the worst year on record for homicides. Over 29,000 people were murdered. One could argue that the country that is on fire is Mexico and not the United States.

FOX: Yeah, but again, that's always - Trump lies, lies mostly in the right figures. Twenty cities in United States have much higher crime rate. And over 120 nations throughout the world have higher crime rates than Mexico. So we are not a land of criminals. We are not rapists. And he's totally confused. And I don't know why he's always...

GARCIA-NAVARRO: You don't have a problem with the drug cartels?

FOX: Oh, yes, we do have. But the drug cartels are here in the United States. The headquarters of the drug cartels are American cartels that import the drugs through Mexico coming from Venezuela. And the main reason for that drug to come here is this mammoth⁹ drug market in the United States.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Don't you think that border security is an issue. I mean, it also - I have been down...

FOX: Absolutely.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: ...To that border, and I've heard on the Mexican side of the border how they also want better security.

FOX: Absolutely, yes. We are not against United States building a wall. If you want to build a wall, waste your money. It's not our case. What we are absolutely against is this stupid thing of Trump that Mexico is going to pay for that wall. Finally, he understands that we are not paying for that wall. That wall is going to be paid by U.S. taxpayers¹⁰. And I asked U.S. taxpayers, are you willing to take out of your pocket $25 billion to build a useless wall?

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Since you've been very public about your opinions, and you've written this book, are you - do you have any plans to meet with anyone in the administration?

FOX: I want to be very constructive¹¹. And yes, I have told Trump, any time you're ready to apologize to Mexicans for what you told about us, I'm willing to sit down with you in that range and fix whatever we have to in this relationship.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Vicente Fox, former president of Mexico and author of the book "Let's Move On: Beyond Fear & False Profits." Muchisima gracias.

FOX: Thank you very much for this opportunity.

1 humble   

adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低

参考例句：

• In my humble opinion,he will win the election.依我拙见，他将在选举中获胜。
• Defeat and failure make people humble.挫折与失败会使人谦卑。

2 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

3 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

4 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

5 surplus   

adj.过剩的，多余的；n.过剩，剩余额

参考例句：

• The manufacturers in some countries dumped their surplus commodities abroad.一些国家的制造商向国外倾销过剩产品。
• The surplus steam was blown off through the pipes.多余的蒸气通过管道放掉了。

6 blunt   

adj.（刀子）钝的，不锋利的，迟钝的，直率的

参考例句：

• The axe is too blunt to cut down the tree.斧头太钝，砍不倒树。
• She is rather blunt in speech.她说话很直率。

7 attain   

vt.达到，获得，完成

参考例句：

• I used the scientific method to attain this end. 我用科学的方法来达到这一目的。
• His painstaking to attain his goal in life is praiseworthy. 他为实现人生目标所下的苦功是值得称赞的。

8 vicious   

adj.恶毒的，恶意的，凶残的，剧烈的，严重的

参考例句：

• He gave the dog a vicious blow with his stick.他朝着那只狗狠狠地打了一棍子。
• The author portrayed his father as a vicious drunkard.作者把他父亲描绘成一个可恶的酒鬼。

9 mammoth   

n.长毛象；adj.长毛象似的，巨大的

参考例句：

• You can only undertake mammoth changes if the finances are there.资金到位的情况下方可进行重大变革。
• Building the new railroad will be a mammoth job.修建那条新铁路将是一项巨大工程。

10 taxpayers   

纳税人，纳税的机构( taxpayer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Finance for education comes from taxpayers. 教育经费来自纳税人。
• She was declaiming against the waste of the taxpayers' money. 她慷慨陈词猛烈抨击对纳税人金钱的浪费。

11 constructive   

adj.建设的，建设性的

参考例句：

• We welcome constructive criticism.我们乐意接受有建设性的批评。
• He is beginning to deal with his anger in a constructive way.他开始用建设性的方法处理自己的怒气。