President Donald Trump dismissed a report that some Republican lawmakers are discussing an action to block him from imposing tariffs on Mexican imports.
The tariff will go up by an additional 5 percentage points each month up until reaching 25 percent and stay there until the problem is resolved.
Some Republican senators have spoken against the tariffs, including John Cornyn of Texas, Joni Ernst of Iowa, and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania.
But Trump pointed to his approval among Republicans, a significant part of which stems from his hard stance on securing the southern border, as a deterrent to Republican dissent.
“There’s nothing more important than borders,” he said. “I’ve had tremendous Republican support.”
Border Emergency
Trump declared the national emergency on Feb. 15, citing a humanitarian and national security crisis at the border, prominently due to the influx of illegal immigrants from El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala, whose numbers have been overwhelming U.S. border security.Border Patrol apprehensions of illegal border crossers have increased nearly 120 percent in the first seven months of the fiscal year 2019, compared with the same period the year before.
The migrants have been traveling largely unimpeded through Mexico, sometimes in caravans of thousands of people. They commonly pay hundreds or even thousands of dollars to human traffickers—dubbed coyotes—who are associated with the drug cartels that control the smuggling routes on the Mexican side of the border.
Trump said Mexico can stop the migrant flow “very quickly” and needs to “step up.”
Mexico’s Response
Mexico has recently escalated immigration enforcement, breaking up caravans, setting up roadblocks, and sweeping up illegal immigrants, The New York Times reported on June 3.It’s also sending a delegation that will meet with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and others on June 5 to discuss the issue.
Trump, however, indicated he wants to see substantive results.
While opponents of the tariffs predict they would just bump up the cost of Mexican products, such as car parts and machinery, Trump predicts that manufacturers will move production to the United States to avoid the tariffs.
At the June 4 press conference, he chilled prospects that the first round of talks could make him reverse course.
“I think it’s more likely that the tariffs go on and we’ll probably be talking during the time that the tariffs are on and they’re going to be paid,” he said.