Trump
seeks Mexican import tax to pay for border wall
BBC NEWS / 27-1-2017
President Donald
Trump will seek a tax on goods imported from Mexico and use the
revenue to build a border wall, the White House spokesman has said.
The plan was
announced just after the Mexican president cancelled a visit to
Washington, amid a row sparked by the question of who will pay for
the wall.
But soon after
revealing it, the White House said that was only one option.
Mr Trump on
Wednesday signed an executive order to create a wall on the US
southern border with Mexico.
Making Mexico foot
the bill - which Republicans say could be $12-15bn - was one of his
key election campaign pledges.
But President
Enrique Pena Nieto has always insisted that will not happen and on
Thursday he pulled out of next week's White House meeting.
Hours later, White
House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters the president had
discussed the funding proposal with lawmakers, and it could be part
of a tax reform package the US Congress is planning.
He said that a 20%
tax could generate approximately $10bn (£8bn) in tax revenue per
year.
"Right now our
country's policy is to tax exports and let imports flow freely in,
which is ridiculous", Mr Spicer said aboard Air Force One,
adding that the tax will "easily pay for the wall".
But Reince Priebus,
the White House chief of staff, later said that the border tax is
only one of several options being considered.
President Pena Nieto
would have been perceived as very weak if he had travelled to
Washington for talks and for many here it would have been tantamount
to accepting Mr Trump's central claim - that Mexico will pay for the
US border wall.
If that is not up
front, then it may come eventually - perhaps under the latest
proposal being floated by Donald Trump's White House, a massive 20%
border tax on Mexican imports.
As Mexico exports
some $300bn of goods a year to the US, the impact of such a proposal
would be felt across the country.
Furthermore, the
idea of funding a wall through a new tariff is simply unacceptable to
most ordinary Mexicans who view the wall as unnecessary, inhumane,
expensive and ineffective.
As their elected
leader, at least for the next 18 months, Enrique Pena Nieto was left
with little option but to deliver that message to the White House -
by not going there in person.
The rift between the
neighbours and trade partners has deepened just days into Mr Trump's
presidency.
After Mr Pena Nieto
pulled out of the summit, Mr Trump said the meeting would have been
"fruitless" if Mexico didn't treat the US "with
respect" and pay for the wall.
Earlier Mr Pena
Nieto said he "lamented" the plans for the barrier.
In a televised
address, the Mexican leader told the nation: "I've said time and
again: Mexico won't pay for any wall."
Republican Senator
Lindsey Graham warned that US consumers may wind up bearing the cost
of the proposed tax.
"Any tariff we
can levy they can levy. Huge barrier to econ growth", he wrote
online.
"Build that
wall" was one of Mr Trump's campaign rally slogans, referring to
the construction of a barrier along the 2,000-mile (3,200km)
boundary.
As he signed the
directive at the Department of Homeland Security, he spoke of a
"crisis" on the southern US border.
His executive orders
also called for hiring 10,000 immigration officials to help boost
border patrol efforts.
"A nation
without borders is not a nation," Mr Trump said. "Beginning
today the United States gets back control of its borders."
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