President Donald Trump believes he has worked out a killer trade deal with Mexico and Canada — but one former Mexican diplomat tells Storm Lake Times columnist Art Cullen that the damage done to the relationship between the countries will have lasting ramifications for years to come.

Jorge Guajardo, who served for six years as Mexico’s ambassador to China, recently explained to Cullen that Trump’s erratic behavior has shown his country that it must look for other major trading partners so it doesn’t run the risk of getting burned by the United States again.

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“We were the Number One customer of the U.S.,” he explained. “Now, we realize we can’t be completely dependent on this craziness.”

Instead, Mexico is looking to Brazil as an alternative to provide soybeans and other crops — and he thinks other nations that have been hit by Trump’s trade wars could do the same.

“You will never see the Chinese market the way you had it,” Guajardo said. “China will never make the mistake of depending on the United States again.”

He went on to explain that China puts a premium on food security for its people — and that it would no longer tolerate a trading partner that is liable to rip the rug out from under trade deals.

Read the whole column here.