Angered by President Trump's border wall proposal, a Mexican official is floating the idea of an entry fee for Americans to visit Mexico. A Mexican policy expert at Rice says none of this heated rhetoric is necessary or helpful.
Dr. Tony Payan at the Baker Institute says it sounds similar to something Costa Rica does -- but in reverse.
"If you go to Costa Rica, for example, and you travel around the country upon exit at the airport you have to go to a desk and pay something like $26 or $27 -- every tourist has to pay that."
Dr. Payan says if President Trump would drop the wall idea and engage in talks with the Mexican government he thinks a less dramatic solution could be reached. But continued heated rhetoric will only make things worse during this year's Mexican presidential election.
"What I feel is that Washington is painting Mexico and Mexican officials into a corner and they're going to have to respond because, as you know, in 15 months Mexico will have a presidential election."
Dr. Payan says one of the leading Mexican candidates is a populist from the left who is not likely to be friendly to the Trump administration.