Mexico Tells Trump They Won’t Pay For Wall – Trumps Floats 20% Import Tax To Make Them
One way or another, it seems the Trump administration is going to build the wall along the southern border between the united States and Mexico. On Thursday, the President of Mexico canceled a scheduled meeting with President Donald Trump, but Trump was not going to let it go without a few words against Mexico and throwing out an idea to make them pay for the wall.
Fox News reports:
Mexico’s president on Thursday scrapped a planned summit with Donald Trump in the face of insistent tweets from the U.S. president demanding Mexico pay for a border wall, a deepening spat that threatens Mexican efforts to salvage trade ties.
Taking a page out of Trump’s playbook, President Enrique Pena Nieto fired the salvo on Twitter, after Trump’s call for Mexico to foot the bill for his planned wall prompted a groundswell of calls in Mexico for next week’s meeting to be called off.
Trump said in a Twitter message earlier on Thursday that his Mexican counterpart should cancel his scheduled visit to Washington if Mexico refuses to pay for the wall that he has ordered constructed along the border. Trump views the wall, a major promise during his election campaign, as part of a package of measures to curb illegal immigration.
Of course, former Mexican president Vincente Fox mockingly tweeted out:
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@realDonaldTrump's ego monument real cost is around 25 billion USD. I ask you, America, what would you prefer instead of that #FuckingWall?
— Vicente Fox Quesada (@VicenteFoxQue) January 26, 2017
Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto took a page from Trump’s playbook and took to Twitter.
Esta mañana hemos informado a la Casa Blanca que no asistiré a la reunión de trabajo programada para el próximo martes con el @POTUS.
— Enrique Peña Nieto (@EPN) January 26, 2017
México reitera su voluntad de trabajar con los Estados Unidos para lograr acuerdos en favor de ambas naciones.
— Enrique Peña Nieto (@EPN) January 26, 2017
Trump then responded.
The U.S. has a 60 billion dollar trade deficit with Mexico. It has been a one-sided deal from the beginning of NAFTA with massive numbers…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 26, 2017
of jobs and companies lost. If Mexico is unwilling to pay for the badly needed wall, then it would be better to cancel the upcoming meeting.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 26, 2017
Mexico is insistent that they won’t pay for the wall, but it appears that their stubbornness in the matter is causing the peso to lose its value, according to Zero Hedge.
Meanwhile, Trump was not about to abandon what he promised. So, the White House floated a twenty percent tax on all imports to the US.
The New York Times reports:
The White House on Thursday appeared to endorse a 20 percent tax on all imports to the United States, only to insist a few hours later that it was not endorsing the plan.
Congressional Republicans have proposed the import tax as part of a broader overhaul of corporate taxation, and Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, told reporters that revenue from the tax would cover the cost of a wall on the United States-Mexico border.
Representative Kevin Brady, the Texas Republican who authored the plan, told Fox News Thursday afternoon that President Trump appeared to be on board with it after an appearance by Mr. Trump at a retreat for congressional Republicans in Philadelphia.
Sadly, RINOs like South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham blasted the tariff idea.
Border security yes, tariffs no. Mexico is 3rd largest trading partner. Any tariff we can levy they can levy. Huge barrier to econ growth /1
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) January 26, 2017
Simply put, any policy proposal which drives up costs of Corona, tequila, or margaritas is a big-time bad idea. Mucho Sad. (2)
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) January 26, 2017
However, later clarification by White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer indicated the twenty percent tariff was merely “spitballing.”
WH spox Spicer clarifies talk of 20% border tax was just spitballing on how Mexico could be made to pay for wall. "Here's 1 way. Boom. Done"
— Julie Davis (@juliehdavis) January 26, 2017
“We will keep the lines of communication open,” Spicer told reporters on Thursday morning. He added that the White House would “look for a date to schedule something in the future.”
This may hamper talks that have been scheduled regarding renegotiating NAFTA. We’ll see if Mexico is unwilling to renegotiate or whether they will be left behind during a Trump administration. Personally, I’d love to see NAFTA abandoned, not renegotiated.
