

Shutterstock “The choices I made were that I agreed with probably 70 or 80 percent of what he’s doing and I agree with 70 or 80 percent of what he’s doing now,” he told the Express-News. But in an interview published Monday in the San Antonio Express-News, he explained why he threw his support behind Trump in 2016. Nixon did not respond to the Current’s interview request.
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“’You are not a conservative because you don’t believe in free trade?’” Trump said, switching back to his normal voice. He also dramatically imitated someone questioning his conservative credentials due to his trade positions. He attacked Democratic rival Hillary Clinton’s husband, former President Bill Clinton, for signing NAFTA into law, calling it “maybe the worst economic development transaction ever signed in the history of our country.” In fact, the impact didn’t even make the trip from San Antonio to The Woodlands where Trump had another fundraiser later that day. “And here in South Texas, NAFTA meets the definition,” Nixon added, referring to the North American Free Trade Agreement that Trump has railed against throughout his campaign. Trump, we must support trade, but I agree we need fair trade,” Nixon said, according to an audio recording of the event obtained by the Texas Tribune.

The Texas Tribune picked it up from there, reporting: The controversy over his support for Trump was intense enough that the company issued a letter before the event saying he would take a stand on free trade. Nixon’s solution? Give Trump a good talking-to about the value of free trade at the June 17, 2016, fundraiser in San Antonio. The smart thing was to take Trump at his word, which, granted, seemed like something only a chump would do. trade deals and commercial dealings with other countries – nobody had any real reason to believe the candidate was faking it to cheat blue-collar workers or the economically insecure middle class out of their votes. And by that stage in the race for president – after a year of Trump’s simplistic attacks on U.S. He certainly hadn’t given trade-minded business leaders like Nixon much to like. “First, we will NOT get the regulatory relief we need to get our economy moving again, and second, we will get MORE burdensome regulations, MORE bad decisions from a liberal Supreme Court and MORE spending on social programs, driving us deeper into debt.”Īt the time, most of the political commentariat assumed Trump’s racism, misogyny, overall obliviousness and lack of discipline would lead the GOP to a spectacular disaster on Election Day. The following is an excerpt from Nixon’s fundraising letter that, at first glance, looked like it was for Trump, but was actually against Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton: But Nixon – that looked bizarre to anyone familiar with his bank but not his political agenda. Powell’s involvement barely caused a murmur. His attacks surely don’t sit well with many of IBC’s Latino customers.”Ī little more than two years ago, after Trump had effectively clinched the Republican nomination for president by winning the Indiana primary, Nixon and San Antonio developer and former UT Regent Gene Powell co-hosted a fundraiser for the candidate at Oak Hills Country Club.

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The Laredo-based bank’s CEO and chairman, Dennis Nixon, fought for passage of the sweeping trade agreement with Mexico and Canada in the early 1990s, and he’s been one of its strongest defenders ever since.īut the full story of International Commerce Bank’s relationship with NAFTA would require a second billboard, one that read: “But IBC’s Dennis Nixon also supports President Trump, who considers NAFTA one of the world’s worst trade deals and has repeatedly threatened to walk away from it.”Ī third billboard might be helpful, too: “Trump has also demonized immigrants from Mexico, calling them rapists, drug dealers, the worst sort of people, and threatened to shut down the federal government if he doesn’t get his border wall. Last week, the electronic billboard peeking over I-10 East near Northwest Loop 410 read: “IBC Supports NAFTA.” Courtesy of IBC Bank Editor's Note: The following is Their Town, a column of opinion and analysis.
