By Luis Montoya - May 31, 2019
BROWNSVILLE, RGV – Congressman Filemon Vela has condemned President Trump for announcing the imposition of a five percent tariff on all imported goods from Mexico.
Via Twitter, Trump on Thursday said he would slap a five percent tariff on Mexican imports “until such time as illegal migrants coming through Mexico and into our country stop.” He said the tariffs would start June 10.
“Trump’s declaration of five percent tariffs on products imported from Mexico as a migration bargaining chip is clearly insane, but in no way surprising,” Vela, D-Brownsville, said.
“This is one more erratic and nonsensical action from an accidental President whose approach to problem solving is to create a problem to extort a solution.”
Vela said Trump’s “multiyear obsession” with border wall funding at the expense of all other rational security measures has “clearly resulted in a border policy that is an abysmal failure.”
Vela said the Trump administration’s recent decision to strip Customs officers of their usual roles as caretakers of the flow of legitimate trade and travel, at the nation’s southern border has “drastically stymied critical international business traffic.”
He added: “This latest tariff decision is equally drastic and makes no sense. Congress should impeach Trump now, and if we don’t, the voters will in November 2020.”
In a statement issued after his tweet Trump said: “Mexico has made massive amounts of money in its dealings with the United States and for years Mexico has not treated us fairly. We are now asserting our rights as a sovereign nation,” Trump said. “The U.S. has been invaded by hundreds of thousands of people coming through Mexico as a result of lawless chaos.”
Trump said the “sustained imposition of tariffs will produce a massive return of jobs back to American cities and towns because we are firmly and forcefully standing up America’s interests.”
The White House said the tariffs will rise five percent per month to as much as 25 percent but would not say what it would take to remove or halt them. It would only say: “It will be at our discretion on an ad hoc basis.”
U.S. officials say 80,000 migrants are being held in custody with an average of 4,500 mostly Central American migrants arriving in the U.S. daily.
Congressman Joaquin Castro, chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, vice chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and a member of the House Intelligence and Education and Labor Committees, also attacked Trump’s promise to impose a five percent tariff in June on all goods coming into the U.S. from Mexico to thwart migrants from coming to the nation’s southwest border.
“Texas does more trade than any other state in the nation. Mexico is our top trading partner. President Trump’s announced intent to impose tariffs on all Mexican imports will have severe consequences for Texas consumers and businesses, and will only invite reciprocal tariffs by Mexico, compounding the economic harm,” Castro, D-San Antonio said.
“Laying economic sanctions on Mexico will not improve the President’s political leverage with Mexico or Congress. In fact, it will do the opposite. Tariffs as high as 25 percent on all Mexican imports would be a disaster and I call on Texas Republicans to publicly oppose the President’s threat.”
Castro added: “Congress cannot allow this President to tank our economy and our relationships with neighbors to further demonize immigrants fleeing violence. Increasing the costs of goods on Americans will not solve the dire humanitarian situation in Central America. We are a nation of immigrants. President Trump cannot, and will not, rewrite that history.”
State Rep. Rafael Anchia, chairman of the Texas House Committee on International Relations and Economic Development, said Trump’s announcement is bad for Texas.
“Tariffs simply do not work; they only penalize Texas businesses and consumers. And these reckless threats could not come at a worse time as USMCA ratification is pending,” Anchia, D-Dallas, said.
Anchia pointed out that Texas is the tenth largest economy in the world and situated in the center of the NAFTA trading bloc. He said Texas maintains mutually-advantageous relationships with its top trading partners, noting that the state serves as the biggest exporter of goods and services in the United States—totaling $264.5 billion in 2017.
The volume of Texas exports was larger than that of the second largest exporting state by more than $90 billion, Anchia noted.
He also pointed out that Texas companies maintain well-developed cross-border supply chains, and a mutually beneficial trade relationship with the state’s number-one trading partner. In 2017, the state exported $97.3 billion, and imported $89 billion from Mexico. He noted that 382,000 Texas jobs depend on trade with Mexico.
“Texas business needs regulatory predictability. Renegotiation of NAFTA was made unnecessarily difficult by President Trump and he is further complicating trade with Mexico through ill-conceived tariffs. The Administration’s reckless actions will discourage investment, cost jobs and hurt the Texas economy,” Anchia added.