“A nation without borders is not a nation. Beginning today the United States gets back control of its borders,” said President Donald Trump on Thursday as he spoke about the ‘yuge’ wall he wants to build to stop illegal immigrants crossing over from Mexico to United States. So how does he see to get money for the process? By asking Mexico itself to pay for it!
The Trump administration said that they are considering to levy a 20% tax on goods imported from Mexico that will pay for the wall. The actual territory extends to about 1,900 miles across the two lands of which around 1,000 miles will have the wall that will cost upwards of $10 billion. Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray said, “A tax on Mexican imports to the United States is not a way to make Mexico pay for the wall, but to a way make the North American consumer pay for it through more expensive avocados, washing machines, televisions.” The announcement comes only days after trump already signing the executive action to build the immigration wall.
The announcement brought in an uproar from the other side of the States leading to the Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto cancelling the meet scheduled with his U.S. counterpart. Technically though, the U.S.A., has a range of obligations under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the World Trade Organisation (WTO) which have to be looked over before such taxes could be enforced. What is even more worrying is that this will indirectly affect the average U.S. citizen rather than a Mexican. With more and more taxes levied on the goods from the Country, America will find it really difficult to keep up with the produce that it generally gets from down south. Around $30 million worth of goods are imported from Mexico to America every year and with higher taxes, this might lead to a major deficit. Environmental factor of constructing such a wall are also critical and may hamper the habitat of many creatures around the area.
So in effect, there seems to be two scenarios possible. One, Mexico also levies an import tax for goods from U.S. which inadvertently leads to a trade war and natural animosity between the countries. Second, U.S. citizens end up paying for the wall that is ineffective, inhumane and illogical to the core. Mexico gets the better end of the deal in the long term as its economic relations with the South-East Asian countries are on an all time high.
