WASHINGTON – The White House floated the idea Thursday of imposing a 20 percent tax on Mexican imports, arguing that would be more than enough to pay for a controversial border wall.
Such a tariff on goods and services would be paid by U.S. consumers and businesses – people buying anything from avocados and tequila to automobiles. Energy companies, big retailers and other major business interests oppose such an import tax, arguing that it would drive up prices in the United States, curb demand, and erode profits.
On its face, that doesn’t appear to fulfill President Donald Trump’s oft-repeated vow to force Mexico to pay for the barrier, which Mexican leaders have made clear they don’t want and certainly won’t agree to pay for.
If anything, it’s a tacit admission that the Trump administration can’t cajole or coerce Mexico into paying for the project, at least in the near term.
Texas imported $84 billion from Mexico in 2015. With a 20 percent tariff, Texas businesses and consumers would have paid an extra $16.8 billion for the same goods and services.
Mexico is the United States’ third-largest trading partner. The White House described the idea as a tax on all imports from Mexico – $271 billion nationally last year. That would generate $54.2 billion in revenue, though a tariff that high would drastically suppress trade in both directions, and have other repercussions.
Also, something that some people might not understand…
this is not how it will end.
Worst case scenario (and I’m finding that to be all too common these days) is that Trump will implement this tax and Americans will begin to realize that they will pay for the wall themselves. In addition, the border tax would have enormous repercussions that would fuck up the American economy almost irreperably. They will start to complain to their leader about what’s going on.
But Trump is a populist leader. If anything, he always technically keeps his promises.
At that point, the only way for him to fix the failing economy and trade with Mexico and get them to technically pay for his fucking wall is if he straight up invades Mexico.
Because as everyone with a highschool-level history education knows-nothing makes money like war.
Bananas, cocoa, alcohol, avocados, cars, cotton, spices, paper, mangoes, cheese, meat, beans, specialized machinery, oil, precious metals and gems, cloth, gum, rubber, honey, just a small list of the ridiculous amount of Mexican exports that will go up in cost