Today, I was having lunch with a very good and close friend. He is American of German descent, 100% new yorker, and is a very strong Donald Trump supporter. We discussed the cheers and jeers, ups and downs of the campaign. In his opinion, Trump rebooted his campaign with his trip to Mexico last week and proved «the wall» is a good marketing strategy, but my friend also accepted that it would be a very difficult task to accomplish.

He added that putting politics aside and taking into consideration the extension of the U.S.-Mexico border —1,989 miles (3,201 km), of which, 580 miles (930 km) are already with barriers in place—, it would be good business for the construction industry in the south to west border area, and if Trump plays that card, he could win many good votes in the southwest.

Then, my friend said something very interesting:

• “Cemex would be happy to provide the material for the wall.”

And he really got me thinking.

Cemex is a Mexican multinational building materials company and distributes cement, ready-mix concrete and aggregates in more than 50 countries. It is the second largest building materials company worldwide. About one-third of the company’s sales come from its Mexico operations, but a quarter is from its plants in the U.S., and smaller percentages from its plants around the world.

As of today, Donald Trump is behind Hillary Clinton about 2-3 points, but anything can happen in the road to the presidency. We don’t know if there is a big skeleton in Hillary´s closet that can dump her presidential aspirations and make the Donald the next president.

Believe me, it could happen. This is why we have to take Trump very seriously and think in every possible scenario if he wins the presidency.

I have nothing for or against Cemex, this just came as a “what if” scenario in an innocent lunch conversation but, as a PR practitioner, a journalist, and former Mexican government officer, I have to wonder of all this potential scenarios and situations, because it seems, the current Mexican government, from top to bottom, they don´t think of them at all.

I wonder if Cemex —again, the second largest building materials company in the world— have asked themselves what they would do if the Trump administration makes its promise good, and wants to buy the materials to build the wall from them.

Construction experts estimate that building the wall in the border could cost around $12 to $15 billion dollars. Would Cemex say no to a potential $15 billion business?

Cemex as a company in the business world is one of Mexico´s most prominent faces. Their public image is very good, in other words, they have a very good perception worldwide, not only in Mexico.

But we are talking big bucks, what would they respond to a potential Trump request of material?

Would they risk their public image and perception for a lucrative business?

Would they allow its competitors to step up and take the order?

If they say yes, how they would handle the reaction of the Mexican business community?

What would be their PR strategy to explain they are helping building a wall in detriment of Mexico?

Are they ready to face a communications crisis if all this happens?

The Mexican government doesn’t know itself and, obvious, they don’t know Donald Trump. If they knew, the disastrous meeting last week would never happen. They thought that “talking” with the presidential candidate was the right way to deal with him, but that was so wrong that backfired us and now Trump is back on track on the race to the U.S. presidency.

The art of war teaches us to rely not on the likelihood of the enemy’s not coming, but on our own readiness to receive him; not on the chance of his not attacking, but rather on the fact that we have made our position unassailable.

The Mexican government was not ready and reacted on the go and missed a huge chance to hit Trump last week.

Maybe, Cemex, and the largest Mexican companies worldwide like America Móvil, Femsa, Grupo Mexico, Bimbo, Carso, to mention a few, they know what to do and they have to start thinking what would they do in the case of a Trump presidency and how to face him.

I know business comes first and they won’t do anything that could damage its interests, but I do believe they also have a social responsibility, and they have to start thinking what they would do for Mexico in case Donald Trump is elected president.