President Donald Trump threatens to impose a tax of up to 20 percent on Mexican imports as part of a plan to construct a wall between Mexico and the United States.
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White House press secretary Sean Spicer said the tax would raise $10 billion a year
President Donald Trump has threatened to impose a tax of up to 20 percent on Mexican imports as part of a plan to construct a wall between Mexico and the United States, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Thursday.
Spicer said the plan had been discussed with congressional Republican leaders and is part of a broader tax reform effort, according to multiple media outlets.
Spicer said the 20 percent tax would raise $10 billion a year, which could “easily pay for the wall just through that mechanism alone.”
The Hill said, “Spicer appeared to come up with the $10 billion figure by applying the 20 percent tax to the U.S. trade deficit from Mexico, which was $49.2 billion in 2015, according to the U.S. Trade Representative.”
Trump said the wall would cost $8 billion, but The Hill said that according to independent estimates, it would cost between $15 billion and $25 billion. Meanwhile, House Speaker Paul Ryan said it would cost up to $15 billion, Time reported.
Earlier on Thursday, Mexico’s President Enrique Peña Nieto said on Twitter he would not be attending the scheduled work meeting next Tuesday with Trump, which was scheduled to take place in Washington. His statement was in response to Donald Trump’s previous tweet from this morning, which said, “If Mexico is unwilling to pay for the badly needed wall, then it would be better to cancel the upcoming meeting.”
Trump signed an executive order Wednesday at the Department of Homeland Security’s headquarters, paving the way for the controversial wall.