GOP senators speak out against Trump’s tariffs on Mexican imports
By Debra J. Saunders
The Trump administration worked Tuesday to contain blowback that followed President Donald Trump’s announcement last week of new tariffs on Mexican goods — both from Mexico City and Senate Republicans who openly expressed their hope that the proposed tariffs do not become reality . . .
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimates that Nevadans would pay $36.8 million more for Mexican goods under a 5 percent tariff, and $184 million if tariffs rose to 25 percent.
If Trump’s proposed tariffs on Mexico reach the 25 percent level, Wayne Winegarden, senior fellow in Business and Economics at the Pacific Research Institute, said “you’re talking about enough to put us into a recession.”
According to the D.C.-based Tax Foundation, if all the tariffs announced by the Trump administration were fully imposed, U.S. GDP would fall “by 0.79 percent ($196.66 billion) in the long run, effectively offsetting about half of the long-run impact of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Wages would fall by 0.51 percent and employment would fall by 609,644 full-time equivalent jobs.”
“If we get 5 percent (tariffs), you’re going to have a slight impact,” Winegarden predicted. But if tariffs continue to increase to the 25 percent ceiling, “you’ll see a bigger and bigger impact” . . .
