MEXICO CITY — Guacamole’s popularity is feeding a roaring trade over the southern border of the United States. Some estimates put American consumption of avocados on Super Bowl Sunday alone at over 100 million pounds in 2018, and last year a record 2.1 billion pounds of the succulent green fruit was imported from Mexico.

The avocado’s success illustrates how commerce over the Rio Grande continues to grow, despite President Donald J. Trump’s moaning about the deficit. When he was elected in 2016, imports of all goods from Mexico were worth $293 billion; last year they shot up to $358 billion.

As exports of avocados, known as “green gold,” have boomed, they have helped lift rural Mexico out of poverty, especially in the state of Michoacán, and reducing the need to migrate to the United States. Unfortunately, it has also drawn the attention of drug cartels, who have been extorting avocado growers, often charging them for every kilo they export.

Fed-up avocado producers have taken up arms against the cartels, and have hit the streets in protests. The state governor has promised a new anti-extortion unit but this has yet to deliver results. While these shakedowns have been a problem for years, a wave of recent media attention has led to debate about whether it’s ethical to buy “blood avocados,” considered a “conflict commodity.”