Paying for U.S./Mexican Wall

Mexican officials upset by President Trump's considering an import tax to pay for his U.S./Mexico border wall and plans to renegotiate NAFTA, are making their own threat.

Mexico's Economy Minister says of any NAFTA renegotiation: "If we are going to go for something that is less than what we have, it makes no sense to stay."

Former Clinton USDA Trade Chief Paul Drazek, who also served in the U.S. embassy in Mexico in the Reagan years says unilateral tariffs to pay for a border wall would not only end NAFTA that established North American free trade, BUT such taxes would in the end be paid ultimately by Americans

Drazek: "We're going to apply a tax on imports from Mexico to pay for a wall and claim that means that Mexico is paying for it. When in fact the tax would be applied to American importers who would then pass the extra cost to consumers. So the actual tax paid would be by the Americans to the U.S. Treasury — not Mexicans."

Further complicating matters, Drazek points out, Trump wants a 20-percent tax on Mexican goods, but Congressional Republicans are discussing import taxes to pay for comprehensive tax reform...and to be WTO-legal, such tariffs must be applied across-the-board—not just on Mexico.