Do you approve or disapprove of a 20% tax on Mexican imports?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

49 votes, 0 passes | Time left: Unlimited
	Approve
	5 (10%)
	Disapprove
	44 (90%)
	0 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided.
Show usernames Disclaimer: This is an Internet poll

[onecaliberal]

1. Can you say inflation?

[mercuryblues]

3. Not only that

They will just export to another country that doesn't have the tax. Then that country will slap their label on it and export the goods to us.

Mexico will just make trade agreements with other countries.

Does Trump really think Ford, GE and other American companies are going to sit idly by and let him do this? Trump has manufacturing in Mexico, does he owe Mexican banks? If he does, I hope they recall his loan.

[onecaliberal]

7. Good points. I hope they do too.

[C_U_L8R]

2. I thought Mexico was paying for the wall

This sounds like US households will pay the burden.
You hear that Republicans? You've been Trumped.

[Bengus81]

4. They can start paying the 20% and LOSE $500.00 per year....

On that FHA mortgage insurance hike that Drumph pulled in about hour one of his Presidency. That asshat has cost us and THEM a load of money and this is just week one. HUGE gas price hikes also coming soon enough IMO.

[C_U_L8R]

10. Apparently they don't do math so good.

Poor dumb Republicans. So easy for their overlords to con and fleece.

[irisblue]

8. "You hear that republicans? You've been Trumped ."

Is my next yard sign & t shirt, if I can use it please.

[C_U_L8R]

12. Please !!

We're starting a sharing economy to deal with this Trump bullshit.

[irisblue]

14. I just tweeted that ss a hashtag.

live long and prosper.

[mainer]

5. You'll take my guacamole when you pry it out of my cold, dead hands

I'm making it tonight, in fact.

[Xolodno]

6. Dumb move to tax.

The cartels are hurting because more and more states are legalizing weed.....this would give them a new round of goods to smuggle in.

And easier. How do you tell the difference between taxed and un-taxed beer?

[alllove]

9. Do they tax our imports?

[Thrill]

19. IF You tax their exports. They will do the same to American exports

[alllove]

21. Do they tax U.S based companies when we export our products to them?

[etherealtruth]

22. Here:

The border tax Trump floated would be a clear violation of Nafta, which allows the duty-free movement of goods between Mexico, the U.S. and Canada, though Trump already has said he will demand a renegotiation of the deal or withdraw.


Under existing treaties, Trump could impose 15 percent duties for 100 days on Mexican imports, claiming a “balance payments emergency,” but that would fall short of the punishment he’s threatened. Other fines, such as anti-dumping duties, require special and lengthy procedures to enact. For his tariff to stick, Trump would likely have to ask Congress to include it in a broader overhaul of the U.S. tax code.
https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/politics/trackers/2017-01-26/trump-may-fund-border-wall-with-20-percent-tax-on-mexico-imports

[alllove]

25. My question doesn't pertain to NAFTA

I thought NAFTA covers only certain goods but not all that we export into Mexico .

Others goods still are Taxed

Am I wrong in this?

[HoneyBadger]

36. NAFTA allows some but not all

The Rules of Origin are identified as:

Goods wholly obtained or produced in a NAFTA country e.g. minerals extracted, livestock, fish and shellfish, and vegetable goods.
Goods made from materials that did not originate from a NAFTA country but have undergone a tariff classification change as specified in Originating Goods (Article 401).
Goods produced entirely in a NAFTA country exclusively from materials originating from that country. For example a wine press made of parts originating in the US but made of metals sourced from countries outside the NAFTA agreement.
Goods that are imported disassembled but are classified as assembled; or goods where the heading and subheading of the HS classification describes both the goods and its parts and providing that the regional value content of the good is not less than 60% of the transaction value. .

[jmg257]

38. Apparently they tariffed 89 goods in 2009 due to trucking limits

not sure if still in place...

Mexico imposes retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods in response to suspension of NAFTA trucking program

June 2009
Overview

The Mexican government recently imposed import tariffs on $2.4 billion of U.S. goods after the United States suspended a program allowing Mexican trucks to deliver goods across the border. When the U.S. closed the southern border to Mexican trucking in March, Mexico promised to retaliate. Mexico has released a list of 89 U.S. products that will face tariffs of 10 percent to 45 percent.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/17/business/worldbusiness/17fobriefs-TARIFFSPLACE_BRF.html

Mexico: Tariffs Placed on U.S. Goods
By BLOOMBERG NEWSMARCH 16, 2009

Mexico placed tariffs on about 90 American products after the United States restricted Mexican trucking, said the country’s economic minister, Gerardo Ruiz Mateos. The measure was taken “for the incompliance of the country in its agreements regarding transport under the North American Free Trade Agreement,” Mr. Ruiz, left, said. “That is what is commonly known as measures of retaliation.” Mr. Ruiz said the tariffs would be imposed on items representing $2.4 billion in trade, but did not name the products.

[alllove]

40. It certainly gets more complicated the more we dig into our trade deals with other countries

[TheFrenchRazor]

11. i wouldn't mind a tax, but the money should not be wasted on a wall. nt

[alllove]

13. That's my view also

but NOT 20% that sounds like a lot.

I'm not a big fan of NAFTA either

[Maru Kitteh]

16. Brilliant. Why don't you explain the benefits of slapping a 20% tax and

starting a trade war with the second largest importer of US goods?

[alllove]

18. Do they tax any of our imports ?

Should be an easy question to answer .

[etherealtruth]

23. No they do not

https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2017-01-26/trump-may-fund-border-wall-with-20-percent-tax-on-mexico-imports
The border tax Trump floated would be a clear violation of Nafta, which allows the duty-free movement of goods between Mexico, the U.S. and Canada, though Trump already has said he will demand a renegotiation of the deal or withdraw.

[alllove]

27. So you're saying anything exported by U.S based compaines into Mexico pay no tax to Mexico?

[etherealtruth]

35. Did you read the info at the link?

here is another: http://money.cnn.com/2016/09/28/news/economy/trump-mexico-vat-tax/

[alllove]

39. Is this part correct from your link?

In a report released Monday, Trump's economic advisers Peter Navarro and Wilbur Ross argue it's not fair that products that American companies are subject to this additional levy from VAT countries. That's because under World Trade Organization rules, foreign companies that manufacture in their own countries and then export goods to the U.S. receive a rebate on the VAT taxes they paid in their homeland.

This makes it more economical for U.S. companies to move their factories abroad and export their products back home, Trump's advisers say. If the U.S. firm is based overseas, it also receives the rebate

[etherealtruth]

43. Do you know what a VAT tax is? Are you conflating VAT taxes with tariffs?

Canada has it. Every other major industrialized economy has also adopted it. When it comes to the value-added tax, the U.S. is the only outlier (I don't support a VAT)

[alllove]

44. I know the difference between the two I'm just illustrating

things where we the U.S got the short end of the stick...so to speak

[etherealtruth]

45. I don't think it illustrates that at all ....?

I think your points have fallen pretty flat because you are not making the distinction between VATs and tariffs. They are not interchangeable as they are not the same thing.

[alllove]

47. I'm not comparing the two

You asked me if I knew the difference

[etherealtruth]

49. ?????

Not sure what point you are trying to make ...? You are comparing apples and oranges and then claiming they represent blueberries.

[alllove]

50. I never compared them

but I do love blueberry pie

[DanTex]

55. The phrase "Trump's economic advisors" should have tipped you off.

No, a VAT doesn't disadvantage US exports or encourage relocation of factories.

If a good is manufactured in Mexico, and exported to the US, yes, they get a VAT rebate. That's a rebate for VAT that has already been paid on the manufacture of those goods. So that producer pays zero VAT in the end.

If a good is manufactured in the US, the producer also pays zero VAT, because the US doesn't have a VAT. So it makes no difference -- no VAT either way.

In terms of US exports to Mexico, they are charged VAT. But if a product is manufactured in Mexico and then sold in Mexico, then it is also charged a VAT. So there's a VAT no matter where the production takes place.

So in either of the cases, whether the good is sold in the US or Mexico, the same amount of VAT is paid no matter where the product is manufactured.

[gordianot]

33. Trump is too lazy to negotiate anything.

He has spent too much time with mobsters where the outcome is someone gets stiffed (likely more ways than one), someone is cheated, you go bankrupt and somehow end up in the clear.

[etherealtruth]

37. Too lazy and stupid

[Maru Kitteh]

26. Then answer it your damn self.

[alllove]

34. I don't understand everything I read at Mexico gov website

that's why I asked you knowing that you would.

I only went as far as the 6th grade .

[grantcart]

17. US trade with Mexico is the third largest and one of the most evenly balanced.

I assume that you wouldn't object that Mexico reciprocates with a 40% tax and buys Airbus instead of Boeings, etc. etc.?

[alllove]

20. Go to Mexicos gov website and read what they tax the U.S on in imports

[grantcart]

31. No I actually went to Mexico and looked setting up a factory there

The fact is that when you count the production sharing value of Mexican imports of parts that are reimported in finished goods to the US we have a trade surplus with Mexico:

http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/presidential-campaign/247649-no-mr-trump-mexico-is-not-killing-us-on-trade

Trade: In 1993, before NAFTA took effect (which it did in January 1994), Mexico bought $41 billion in goods and services from the U.S. and sold $39 Billion worth to the United States. Total: $80 billion. In the first year of NAFTA, the $80 billion increased to $99 billion, a 25 percent increase.

Ten years after NAFTA started, total trade between the U.S. and Mexico was $145 billion — an increase of 55 percent. In 2003, almost twenty years after NAFTA began, total trade with Mexico was $506 billion — half a trillion dollars — which is 632 percent more than 1994.

In 2014, by contrast, the United States exported $123 billion in goods to China and imported $466 billion from China. That's a minus $343 billion imbalance in trade. In 2014, the U.S. exported $49 billion of goods to Germany and imported $123 billion for an imbalance of minus $73 billion (lots of Mercedes and BMWs).

Here is something that Mr. Trump apparently does not know: U.S.-Mexico trade is unique in the world; there is a "production sharing" program between Mexico and the United States in which, according to the Wilson Center's Mexico Institute, "A full 40 [percent] of the content of U.S. imports from Mexico is actually produced in the United States. ... This means that forty cents of every dollar spent on imports from Mexico comes back to the United States, a quantity ten times greater that the four cents returning for each dollar paid on Chinese imports."

But what folks in the US conveniently overlook is the huge amount of repatriated profits and services that aren't in the trade figures. The US's three largest US dollar revenue sources are entertainment (Hollywood), software (Microsoft), and games (Sony etc which are produced in the US).

Beyond that are the indirect labor that often dwarfs the minimal direct labor of assembling. For example your IPod is assembled in Mexico for $ 25 with about $ 8 for Mexican labor. It is shipped to Vermont at an invoice of $ 200 and retails for $ 400. $ 175 goes back to Apple for overhead, profit and indirect labor. That indirect labor actually exceeds the value of the phone because as you add apps the phone becomes a multi tasking computer and most of that labor is US based. Not only the labor in the apps in the phone but the software that links the phone (Qualcomm).

So not only are the figures with Mexico very good they also hide a lot of trade that is beneficial to the US. So for example if that Ipad is assembled in Mexico and sent to Argentina a significant portion of it will be repatriated back to the US but never show up in any trade with the US.

[Worktodo]

48. Everyone should read your post

[DemocratSinceBirth]

24. It's a tax on the poor. The less money you make the more of it you spend.

[TrekLuver]

51. And who do you think pays for this tax?

[aikoaiko]

15. Does this apply to tequila? If so, then no.

[Hoyt]

52. I'm with you on that, but Mezcal is important too.

[Lithos]

28. I support

A 20% surcharge on Trump brands...

[hrmjustin]

29. They would immediately tax our corn and destroy the Midwestern economy.

[DODI]

30. Linsey Graham disapproves as well!

Link to tweet

[ProfessorGAC]

32. Tariffs Are, By Definition, Regressive

Bad idea, prima face.

[hollowdweller]

41. I'd be for a 10% one dedicated to further subsidize the ACA.

[roamer65]

42. It's a violation of the NAFTA.

We would lose in arbitration.

[cynatnite]

57. You're the only one I think who gets it. n/t

[Blue_true]

46. Trade wars will be disastrous for the USA.

I am concerned that the world will permanently go against us and we will lose leadership of the western world to Germany.

[Hoyt]

53. That is a big fear. Our military won't help us if everyone in the world hates greedy Americans.

[yardwork]

60. We will lose to China, while Russia attempts to absorb Europe.

It's clear that Putin wants to reestablish the Soviet Union - only bigger this time - and he is prepared to do anything to get it.

Europe will resist. We are headed for WWIII. And this time, the U.S. will be on the wrong side, the side of evil.

[doc03]

54. Ford's biggest selling car the Fusion is assembled in Mexico. Chevy Silvarado trucks

are also made there. I don't think the Trumpsters would like paying another $5000 to $10000 for one of their
cars or trucks.

[alllove]

56. I guess Ford might be forced then to relocate all their operations back to the U.S

if they want to stay competitive in the auto industry

[doc03]

58. You don't just put an auto factory on a truck and haul it

to Detroit. Mexico is one of our largest suppliers of oil, you ready to pay more for gas? You think
they will move the auto factory back to Detroit and pay $50 a hour? They will put more robots in
and pay $10.00 an hour to labor.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

59. What if Mexico retaliates and slaps a fifty percent tariff on our exports?

Last time we bullied a Latin American neighbor we drove them into the open arms of a hostile military power and ended up with an existential military crisis.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

62. What if Mexico retaliates and slaps a fifty percent tariff on our exports?

What if Mexico slaps a fifty percent tariff on all cars made in the United States?

After all it's not as if they can't buy cars from Japan, South Korea, and Germany.