“First, you’d see prices rise in­cred­ibly fast. Then . . . we would see layoffs within a day or two,” said Lance Jungmeyer, president of the Fresh Produce Association of the Americas in Nogales, Arizona. “This is not going to help border security.”

Even a border slowdown could create shortages of goods and services and lead to higher prices for consumers, said Gerry Schwebel, executive vice president of the international division of Laredo-based IBC Bank, adding: “If you want to create an economic crisis, then shutting down the border will create an economic crisis.” The economic consequences of a complete shutdown would be immediate and severe, trade specialists said, with automakers and American farmers among the first to feel the pain.

As the White House may or may not know, almost half of all vegetables and 40 percent of fruit imported into the U.S. are grown in Mexico, according to the latest data from the Department of Agriculture. Steve Barnard, president and chief executive of Mission Produce, estimated that the U.S. would run out of avocados in three weeks if Trump went through with closing the border. “You couldn’t pick a worse time of year,” he said. “We’re absolutely going to see higher prices. This is a very real and very relevant concern for American consumers,” Monica Ganley, principal at Quarterra, a consultancy specializing in Latin American agricultural issues and trade, told NBC News. Arturo Sarukhan, Mexico’s ambassador to the United States from 2007 to 2013, said Trump-supporting farm states would undoubtedly be hit hard, making the decision a “self-inflicted wound” on the administration. “I’m not going to try to second-guess whether the president is playing chicken, bluffing or spewing whatever comes to his mind,” Sarukhan told the Post. “The reality is that it would be extremely costly for the United States in terms of trade and economic well-being.”

On the bright side, should Trump make good on his threat, he’ll likely be challenged in court, as closing ports would violate federal immigration laws, according to Stephen Legomsky, former chief counsel of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Trump “cannot close every port on the border,” Legomsky said. “If he did so, he would effectively undermine the entire congressional scheme for who may enter the U.S. and who may not.” Obviously, though, that doesn’t mean he won’t give it a shot!

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