How should Mexico respond to Trump's tariffs?

[Aimless]

The Trump admin has announced a 5% tariff on all goods imported from Mexico, set to rise to 25% in October:

https://www.google.se/amp/s/www.nyti...riffs.amp.html

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.

This is not only dumb but also an abuse of the president's tariff-setting powers. Congress seems to be content with ceding more and more power to his imperial highness the president, so a more important question is:

What should/will Mexico do?

To be clear, the tariffs will, like all tariffs, hurt US businesses and consumers. The supply chains of many important companies are heavily reliant on Mexico. At a minimum, even if you ignore broader knock-on effects, this constitutes an unpredictable $17 billion tax the US has chosen to impose on its own economy.

But Mexico now has an opportunity—and ample justification—to severely punish farmers in Trump-supporting states, leveraging the effect of the Chinese tariffs for maximum effect. On the one hand, this would harm Mexican consumers, but, on the other hand, it may be the only way to force the US—no longer a good-faith trading partner—to get a grip.

[GGT]

Congress seems to be content with ceding more and more power to his imperial highness the president, so a more important question is:

What should/will Mexico do?

I think the most important question is: what will US legislators do to rein in a president who acts like a king? If it takes *threats* from Mexico (or China) to remind congress of their constitutional duties *as a co-equal branch of government*, then we really are screwed.

Edit: to be clear, congress ceding power to the executive branch isn't something peculiar to the Trump era. Example: only congress can technically declare war, but the last time they did that was WWII.

[GGT]

Looks like the GOP leadership is showing some spine (finally) and pushing back a bit. Will it be enough to untangle the mess Trump has made? Do they care more about their constituents' livelihoods and 401-Ks, or cow-towing to Trump's impulses and wacky ideas?

I started a thread about "Trump Tariffs" a while ago. Didn't get much traction, ho-hum, who'd think the craziness would continue, let alone escalate? Surely the Republicans would come to their senses, and stop enabling Trump's stupidity before it went too far.

Hey, how about that great economy, huh? USA #1!

[Lewkowski]

Looks like the GOP leadership is showing some spine (finally) and pushing back a bit. Will it be enough to untangle the mess Trump has made? Do they care more about their constituents' livelihoods and 401-Ks, or cow-towing to Trump's impulses and wacky ideas?

I started a thread about "Trump Tariffs" a while ago. Didn't get much traction, ho-hum, who'd think the craziness would continue, let alone escalate? Surely the Republicans would come to their senses, and stop enabling Trump's stupidity before it went too far.

Hey, how about that great economy, huh? USA #1!

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/07/trum...d-tariffs.html

Interesting. I personally dislike tariffs all together but it seems to have been used as effective bargaining chip.

[Loki]

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/07/trum...d-tariffs.html

Interesting. I personally dislike tariffs all together but it seems to have been used as effective bargaining chip.

Case in point. You oppose big government...unless Trump is the big government.

[Lewkowski]

Case in point. You oppose big government...unless Trump is the big government.

I'm opposed to tariffs because they are big government (and economically inefficient). No tariffs were ever actually implemented so...

[Aimless]

Phony solution to a phony crisis. Trump is easy to manipulate, but his supporters are even easier.

[Lewkowski]

Phony solution to a phony crisis. Trump is easy to manipulate, but his supporters are even easier.

No tariffs got added (good) and Mexico is going to take steps to help curb migration from central American (good). Win/Win at this point. Possible Mexico is blowing smoke but in the digital age it should become apparent real quickly if they are.

[Aimless]

No tariffs got added (good) and Mexico is going to take steps to help curb migration from central American (good). Win/Win at this point. Possible Mexico is blowing smoke but in the digital age it should become apparent real quickly if they are.

I swear, you're such a dope.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/08/u...l-tariffs.html

The only thing the US got out of this latest asshattery was humiliation and costly economic uncertainty. Meanwhile, Trump has already imposed tariffs on China, harming US businesses and consumers. Such a dope.

[LittleFuzzy]

I swear, you're such a dope.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/08/u...l-tariffs.html

The only thing the US got out of this latest asshattery was humiliation and costly economic uncertainty. Meanwhile, Trump has already imposed tariffs on China, harming US businesses and consumers. Such a dope.

That may be the only thing the US got out of it, but Trump got more. It was a piece of political theater so he could claim he "pressured" Mexico into finally paying for his "wall." Just like he promised during his campaign.

[Aimless]

That may be the only thing the US got out of it, but Trump got more. It was a piece of political theater

Certainly, that goes without saying, but Lewk is objective and only concerned with facts, he doesn't care about Trump

[EyeKhan]

That may be the only thing the US got out of it, but Trump got more. It was a piece of political theater so he could claim he "pressured" Mexico into finally paying for his "wall." Just like he promised during his campaign.

And nobody is talking about the Mueller report anymore. They guy is a genius at manipulating the media -- or is it just easy to do for someone who has no integrity and literally feels no shame?

[GGT]

He also opposed executive over-reach, using executive orders to bypass congress, or running a command economy...unless it's done by a 'Republican' president.

Lewk, you can't claim to believe in Freeee Markets and then say Trump's Tariff Tantrums are "effective bargaining chips". And you can't say using taxes/tariffs for immigration policy is part of any Freee Trade model, either.