MEXICO/TARIFFS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Trump said Thursday [5-30-19] that he would impose a 5 percent tariff on all imported goods from Mexico beginning June 10, a tax that would ‘gradually increase’ until the flow of undocumented immigrants across the border stopped. The announcement, which Mr. Trump made on his Twitter feed, said the tariffs would be in place ‘until such time as illegal migrants coming through Mexico, and into our Country, STOP.’ In a presidential statement that followed, he said that tariffs would be raised to 10 percent on July 1 ‘if the crisis persists,’ and then by an additional 5 percent each month for three months. They would remain at 25 percent until Mexico acted, he said. An across-the-board tariff on all Mexican goods would exact a serious toll on American consumers and corporations, and is likely to generate significant opposition among businesses. Rufus Yerxa, the president of the National Foreign Trade Council, which represents the nation’s largest exporters, called the move ‘a colossal blunder.’ The president’s threat escalated his immigration fight with Mexico and is a significant move against an American ally that essentially dared the Mexican government to risk economic catastrophe on both sides of the border if it did not capitulate to the demands of the United States president.”
–Annie Karni, Ana Swanson and Michael D. Shear, “Trump Says U.S. Will Hit Mexico With 5% Tariffs on All Goods,” The new York Times online, May 30, 2019