ELS Chairman and billionaire real estate mogul Sam Zell shared his thoughts recently on President Donald Trump’s plan for the border wall with Mexico, and what it means for business.
“I’ve done a fair amount of business near the Mexican border and I think the country is going to do fine,” said Zell.
“I think the Mexico-U.S. connection is far too strong for any shift in policy to have anything other than a short term impact.”
Zell made his comments this week during an appearance on FOX Business Network’s Mornings with Maria show.
The impact of Zell’s big project near the Mexican border is significant: a bridge from San Diego, California to Tijuana, Mexico. He expects it to carry 1.8 million people in 2017.
He also pointed out the growing role that Mexico is playing in the manufacturing arena.
“We used to talk about China being the manufacturing center of the U.S., well Mexico has become the manufacturing center of the U.S. and frankly that’s a plus,” said Zell.
In February, Zell also made comments regarding Mexico and free trade.
“Many of our free trade agreements are a combination of free trade and foreign policy pacts that don’t optimize economic benefits for the U.S. and instead are designed to improve diplomatic relations with trading partners,” said Zell.
“Before NAFTA we didn’t have a trade deficit with Mexico, afterwards we have a $60 billion deficit. Mexico, by the way, post-NAFTA has a $60 billion trade deficit with China. The U.S. thus helped Mexico’s trade picture while worsening its own. We are putting a price on the back of free trade.“
“New agreements must be good for the U.S. and, ultimately, that will be what is good for the free world,” said Zell.
According to FOX Business, the U.S. is Mexico’s biggest export market, topping $290 billion a year and Mexico is the United States’ third-largest trading partner. It is estimated that 5 million American jobs depend on trade with Mexico.
Doubling Down
Earlier this month, Zell spoke his confidence in the economy, joining Continental Resources Inc.’s Harold Hamm in the growing list of enthusiasts of Oklahoma’s Stack shale formation.
“Trump’s administration is likely to be very positive for the business community and the energy industry specifically,” said Zell.
“OPEC’s agreement to cut production is positive for oil producers and oil investments all over the world, including North America.”
As Daily Business News readers are aware, leaders in business, including Zell, clearly understand the significant business opportunity in manufactured housing.
Warren Buffet and Berkshire Hathaway, which owns Clayton Homes, and independents such as John Bostick with Sunshine Homes are “doubling down” on the industry, with Zell being quoted as saying during this interview “Everyone calls them trailer parks. Pencil head, it’s not a trailer park.“
ELS and Berkshire Hathaway are also two of the manufactured home industry connected stocks tracked every business day by the Daily Business News, with the most recent report, linked here. ##
(Image credits are as shown above.)
Submitted by RC Williams to the Daily Business News for MHProNews.
