Dick Morris: Use Mexican Tariffs To Pay for the Border Wall
President Donald Trump should earmark the revenues from his proposed 5 percent tariff on Mexican exports to the U.S. to fund the construction of his proposed border wall. Such a move would fully vindicate his well-publicized campaign pledge to build the wall and to make Mexico pay for it.
He would likely need congressional approval — although perhaps not — and, with Democrats in charge in the House, it won’t be forthcoming. But, by making the issue and tying immigration and tariffs so closely, Trump sets up a great issue.
And, who knows? In the endlessly complicated laws governing tariffs, Trump might find a loophole.
(This idea was suggested to me by Rey Solano at a meeting of the West Side Republican Club in Manhattan. Thanks, Rey!)
The Republican Party is split over the Mexican tariffs because of the fundamental fissure between the country club/Wall Street wing of the party and the rotary club/Main Street wing.
The titans of industry are worried that the tariffs on cheap Mexican imports will cut into their profit margins, especially now that they cannot import such goods from China due to the tariffs Trump has imposed.
Trump stands with the majority of GOP voters in insisting on tariffs. By his bold move in tying the Mexican tariffs to the country’s refusal to control emigration to the U.S., he has coupled his two best issues: trade and immigration. Any Republican who stands in his path will get run over.
The plain fact is that the Mexican government has no incentive to control emigration from their country to the U.S. The incentives are all on the other side.
Mexico gets $25 billion annually from remittances sent back by its citizens working in the U.S. This sum equals 2.2 percent of the nation’s GDP (the U.S. equivalent would be $250 billion).
The more people who pass over the border, the more revenue Mexico gets. It dwarfs any foreign aid it might receive.
But emigration to the U.S. serves a vital social function for Mexico as well.
My Mexican friend and one of the leaders of the reform movement there, Fredo Arias-King, makes the point that being able to let people flee to America relieves social tensions in Mexico that might impel revolution or other drastic change.
As such, emigration serves the same social purpose as the frontier did for America in the 19th and 20th centuries.
According to historian Frederick Jackson Turner, who in 1893 wrote that westward immigration assured harmony in the U.S. as those who felt downtrodden had an alternative — following the sun to the west.
The Turner thesis is, Fredo says, a key element in permitting the likes of billionaire Carlos Slim to grow his empire in peace without being held to account by the masses.
Trump should stand firm on tariffs with Mexico and China. His fight is our fight and we must back him up.
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