The President Announces Plans to Implement Tariffs on Mexico
By Heather Ham-Warren | May 31, 2019
On Thursday, President Trump surprised the world by announcing a new five percent tariff on all goods imported from Mexico to encourage the country to crack down on the wave of economic migrants crossing through Mexico to the United States.
By Friday morning, the Mexican foreign relation secretary had already been dispatched to Washington, D.C. to begin negotiations. However, the White House plan—implemented under authorities granted to the president by the International Emergency Economic Powers Act—appears to be firmly in place. The five percent tariffs are slated to take effect on June 10 on all goods imported from Mexico. If the current illegal immigration surge at the U.S.-Mexico border continues, tariffs will be raised to ten percent on July 1; fifteen percent on August 1; twenty percent on September 1; and twenty-five percent on October 1. The tariffs will remain at the twenty-five percent level until the crisis at the border has ceased. If, at any point, Mexico takes effective actions to alleviate the current situation, the tariffs will be removed.
In a tweet reiterating his decision the president stated, “Mexico has taken advantage of the United States for decades. Because of the Dems, our Immigration Laws are BAD. Mexico makes a FORTUNE from the U.S., have for decades, they can easily fix this problem. Time for them to finally do what must be done!”