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Trump wants a 20% tariff on Mexico to pay for the Wall

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BxgJ said:
Well I'm not sure how much others have cost, but was referring to the possible (or likely) escalation, which would cost many times that amount.
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Fair enough. I did a quick search and if they were to build the great wall of china.. sorry, gina, today, it'd cost approximately $360 billion.
We need to up the game some on this wall, make it gold leaf, drumpf it up donnie!
 
Sheik Yerbouti said:
Fair enough. I did a quick search and if they were to build the great wall of china.. sorry, gina, today, it'd cost approximately $360 billion.
We need to up the game some on this wall, make it gold leaf, drumpf it up donnie!
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Starting estimate is $12B. You honestly don't think we'll get up to the ~$350B level quickly?

Edit: Oops I missed the context of your post and what you were replying to... sounds like we're all on the same page.
 
Because society needs something to rally against. Abstract things like Global Warming, Automation of the Workforce, etc, are too hard to rally against because there are no obvious, direct solutions. Mexico is the obvious choice because it's a smaller country that is easy to pick on (why start with China first?). Trump may be a narcissist, but he also has to pander to his base. The blue collar workers in the rust belt won him the election on the premise of more protectionism, and he is at least doing what his voter base wants.
 
daxzy said:
Because society needs something to rally against. Abstract things like Global Warming, Automation of the Workforce, etc, are too hard to rally against because there are no obvious, direct solutions. Mexico is the obvious choice because it's a smaller country that is easy to pick on (why start with China first?). Trump may be a narcissist, but he also has to pander to his base. The blue collar workers in the rust belt won him the election on the premise of more protectionism, and he is at least doing what his voter base wants.
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I don't think anybody questions that "reasoning" at all.
It's weak as hell, but it's the reason nonetheless.
 
If Spicer is talking about the border-adjusted tax proposed by the Republicans then it's not really an import tariff. It's basically a form of VAT tax and the border adjustment is pretty similar to how VAT works in Europe.
 
Trade Wars were Trump's promise from day 1 of his announcement. Other countries are "killing us" on "the trade".
"Bringing back jobs" and "America First" means exactly this, does it not? What else was it going to be?

I can certainly see the appeal to Americans desperate for answers, to believe nuking the status quo to be a legitimate strategy.
I even like the sound of action... but I hesitate because I don't see / know how we come out ahead on this.
Additionally, I have my own economic solution that does not invoke any such risk.

This entire conflict comes back to voters wanting a solution to loss of labor. And thus far we have failed them.
By all accounts we're going to continue failing them, and it's going to be increasingly painful.
 
Jaskalas said:
Trade Wars were Trump's promise from day 1 of his announcement. Other countries are "killing us" on "the trade".
"Bringing back jobs" and "America First" means exactly this, does it not? What else was it going to be?

I can certainly see the appeal to Americans desperate for answers, to believe nuking the status quo to be a legitimate strategy.
I even like the sound of action... but I hesitate because I don't see / know how we come out ahead on this.
Additionally, I have my own economic solution that does not invoke any such risk.

This entire conflict comes back to voters wanting a solution to loss of labor. And thus far we have failed them.
By all accounts we're going to continue failing them, and it's going to be increasingly painful.
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And trade wars via twitter is so diplomatic!
 
I don't understand some of the reasoning of how the wall will be funded for.

Some say that we have a 50 to 60 billion dollar trade deficit with Mexico. How can this trade deficit be used against Mexico for funding the wall? Some say that Trump will start taxing all wire transfers originating in the US to Mexico. Okay, but how effective will that be before the illegals figure out an alternative to wire transfers? And now apparently we are going to levy a 20% tariff against Mexican imports.

Wouldn't those tariffs mean that the cost of certain goods will rise and that the U.S. taxpayers will end up footing the bill for the wall? Also, car companies like GM, Ford, Nissan, Honda, Volkswagen, BMW, etc. have manufacturing plants in Mexico. Are they going to scream bloody murder when manufacturing and maintenance costs in Mexico start rising because of this?

I don't condone illegal immigration. Not even in the slightest. But I really fail to see how this is going to stop illegal immigration, when it feels like it will do the exact opposite and just increase it because of this.
 
Vic said:
Yep. Brought to us by the same crowd who said that we couldn't increase the minimum wage because it would raise consumer prices.
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https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...der-tax-would-hit-avocados-chili-peppers-beer
  • Fresh vegetables -- Imports of tomatoes, onions, chili peppers and other vegetables totaled $4.84 billion. That’s more than four times what was purchased from Canada, the next biggest importer.
  • Fresh fruit -- $4.28 billion of shipments, including raspberries, strawberries and avocados. Mexico sells more than twice as much fresh fruit to the U.S. as the No. 2 importer, Chile.
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Yes, let's raise fresh produce prices on already obese and unhealthy processed food eating Americans.
 
Smoke and mirrors. The American consumer will pay for the wall by paying higher prices, and through job losses in our export sector which will occur when Mexico retaliates with a similar tariff on our own goods. But Trump will claim he got Mexico to pay for the wall. Typical Trump nonsense.

Let Trump destroy the economy and alienate most of our foreign friends and allies. Tick tock to the next election, GOP. You own everything Trump does from here on out.
 
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This is what happens when the stupidest people in a society elect the president of their choice. It's all about screwing someone else, not helping themselves.
 
I keep hearing how this cost will be past on to Americans, which yeah is probably going to happen. But won't products not made in Mexico be able to undercut them? How about you buy more Coors and less Corona since it will be cheaper anyways. You are not forced to buy products made in Mexico, you know.
 
Vaux said:
I keep hearing how this cost will be past on to Americans, which yeah is probably going to happen. But won't products not made in Mexico be able to undercut them? How about you buy more Coors and less Corona since it will be cheaper anyways. You are not forced to buy products made in Mexico, you know.
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At least Corona can be fixed with a wedge of Lime.
 
Vaux said:
I keep hearing how this cost will be past on to Americans, which yeah is probably going to happen. But won't products not made in Mexico be able to undercut them? How about you buy more Coors and less Corona since it will be cheaper anyways. You are not forced to buy products made in Mexico, you know.
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Those countries don't have the production abilities currently in place for the fruits and vegetables trades. Mexico has perfected the production logistics and export. It's not an easy model to replace
 
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