Trump to hit Mexico with tariffs in bid to halt migrants at border
● Levy to start at 5 per cent, but rising ● President wants ‘ problem’ remedied
US president Donald Trump has declared he is placing a 5 per cent tariff on all Mexican imports to pressure the country to do more to crack down on the surge of Central American migrants trying to cross the American border.
In a surprise announcement that could derail a major trade deal, Mr Trump said the tariff percentage would gradually increase – up to 25 per cent – “until the illegal immigration problem is remedied”.
The initial tariff is due to come into effect on 10 June.
The decision showed t he administration going to new lengths and looking for new levers to pressure Mexico to take action – even if those risk upending other policy priorities like the United StatesMexico- Canada Agreement.
That trade deal is the cornerstone of Mr Trump’s legislative agenda and seen as beneficial to his re- election effort.
It also risks further damaging the already strained relationship between the US and Mexico – two countries whose economies are deeply intertwined. Mr Trump made the announcement by tweet after telling reporters earlier on Thursday that he was planning “a major statement” that would be his “biggest” so far on the border.
“On 10 June, the United States will impose a 5 per cent Tariff on all goods coming into our Country from Mexico, until such time as illegal migrants coming through Mexico, and into our Country, STOP,” he wrote.
“The Tariff will gradually increase until the Illegal Immigration problem is remedied.”
Mexican president Andres M a n u e l L o p e z O b r a d o r responded in a public letter late on Thursday, telling Mr Trump that “social problems are not solved with duties or coercive measures” and alluded to the United States’ history as a nation of immigrants.
“The Statue of Liberty is not an empty symbol,” he wrote. He also said he was dispatching his foreign relations secretary to Washington to try to negotiate a solution.
In his growing fury over an increase in border crossings that he has likened to an “invasion”, Mr Trump has blamed Mexico for failing to stop the flow of asylum seekers from countries like El Salvador and Honduras who pass through its territory.
And he has been i t ching to take increasingly radical, headline- grabbing action on the issue, which he sees as critical to his 2020 campaign because it energises his support base.
But the sudden tariff threat comes at a peculiar time given how hard the administration has been pushing for passage of the USMCA, which would update the North American Free Trade Agreement.
It comes less than two weeks after Mr Trump lifted import taxes on Mexican and Canadian steel and aluminium – a move that seemed to clear an obstacle to its passage and the same day that both Mr Trump and Mr Lopez Obrador began the process of seeking ratification. The deal needs approval from politicians in all three countries before it takes effect.
“The t ariffs cer t ainly put the USMCA on ice,” said Gary Hufbauer, an expert in trade law at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, who panned the move. But he said Mr Trump does have the legal authority to impose the tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act by citing a national emergency.
“The drama is legal, but it’s preposterous,” he said.
Daniel Ujczo, a US- based international trade lawyer, said the threat would li ke - ly slow the deal’s progress in Mexico and put American politicians who want to vote “yes” in a difficult position because companies in their districts will end up paying the tariffs.
S t i l l , Mr Uj c z o a nd ot h - ers wondered whether Mr Trump, who has a habit of creating problems and then claiming credit when he rushes in to solve them, would go through with the threat.