When they were asked, the White House couldn’t answer how new tariffs on Mexico would stop migrants from crossing the Southern border.
The economic consequences of Trump’s new plan could be swift and severe. Tariffs are paid by companies that import products, so U.S. firms would pay the import penalties and then likely pass some costs along to consumers. Mexico exported $346.5 billion in goods to the United States last year, from vehicles to fruits and vegetables. And many manufactured items cross the border several times as they are being assembled.
White House officials did not immediately explain how driving up the cost of Mexican goods might stem the flow of migrants. If the tariffs damaged the Mexican economy, more of its citizens would try to cross the border to find work in the United States, experts said.
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Trump is going to hurt the US economy, and make immigration worse
Inflation is on the rise. The economy is slowing, so Trump’s answer is a tariff on one of the country’s biggest trading partners that will immediately hurt US companies and consumers. It would be almost pleasant to think that this move was not serious and meant to be a distraction from Robert Mueller, but Trump really believes that countries, not US businesses and consumers pay tariffs.
The president believes that he is crippling the Mexican economy when he is harming the United States.
The White House can’t explain it, because the tariffs won’t help solve the immigration crisis that Trump created.
Trump is taking the excellent economy that Obama left him and turning it into a recession one tariff at a time.
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Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
