President Donald Trump has made building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border one of the keystones of his campaign and now week-long presidency. The question was, who was going to pay for it?
At first, he promised that Mexico would pay for it. Lately, it’s been more likely that the U.S. would front the bill and get paid back later. Yesterday, in a new development, Trump brought up the idea of a 20 percent tax on imports from Mexico to pay for the wall.
According to The New York Times, White House press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters that the proceeds from the tax would be used to pay for the $20 billion border wall.
“By doing it that way, we can do $10 billion a year and easily pay for the wall just through that mechanism alone,” Spicer said, according to CNN. “That’s really going to provide the funding.”
Spicer was quick to point out that this was just “one idea,” however, and that the president was not completely sold on it. Reince Priebus, Trump’s chief of staff, said that the administration was thinking about “a buffet of options.”
According to CNN, Mexico’s exports to the U.S. in 2015 was valued at $316.4 billion. We currently have an estimated $50 billion trade deficit with Mexico.
In a series of tweets (the latter of which is a bit tongue in cheek, but the point is still valid), Sen. Lindsey Graham expressed his qualms with the border tax, claiming that the tariff with one of the U.S.’s largest trading partners would be bad for economic growth and consumer needs.
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
Trump’s idea has been met with opposition from other Republican politicians. Sen. John McCain voiced his concerns about how the proposed tax would damage the country’s relationship with Mexico and would impact his home state of Arizona.
“While renegotiations could help strengthen and modernize NAFTA to benefit American businesses and consumers, any effort to restrict or impose new barriers on our ability to trade with Mexico and Canada could jeopardize the future of this trade agreement and have serious consequences for Arizona and the country,” McCain said, according to CNN.
House Freedom Caucus chairman Mark Meadows said that he was generally “not in support of tariffs and taxes,” according to CNN.
“There’s always the potential for retaliation, which normally doesn’t support good economic growth of either country,” he added.
The possibility of retaliation came to fruition as Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto canceled a planned meeting with President Trump for next week.
In a series of tweets (translated from original Spanish), President Peña Nieto expressed his disappointment in President Trump’s proposed plan:
I regret and reject the U.S. decision to continue building a wall that far from uniting us, [is] dividing us. The Mexican delegation in Washington is still working. After his final report, and after consultation with @senadomexicano and @CONAGO_oficial. Mexico offers and demands respect, as the nation fully sovereign that we are. I will take the decision on the next steps to be taken in our bilateral agenda.
However, the two held a phone call this morning, according to NBC News. There’s no word on what the two discussed, or how friendly the talk was.
