Trump defies close advisers in deciding to threaten Mexico with disruptive tariffs
Source: Washington Post
Trump defies close advisers in deciding to threaten Mexico with disruptive tariffs
By Seung Min Kim, Josh Dawsey and Damian Paletta May 31 at 8:19 PM
President Trump, confronted with the latest surge of migration that threatens his tough-on-the-border image, was ready to launch his newest plan — across-the-board tariffs on Mexican goods, likely to wound the healthy economy and trigger protests from parts of his own party.
But during a Wednesday night huddle inside the Oval Office, Trump was running into a roadblock: his own advisers.
Calling in from his travels in the Middle East, presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner argued against imposing unilateral tariffs, warning that the move could imperil the prospects of ratifying a new trade deal with Mexico and Canada, according to officials familiar with the meeting. Kushner, a senior White House adviser, insisted that he could still work directly with Mexico to resolve the burgeoning migration crisis.
In the Oval Office with Trump, U.S. Trade Representative Robert E. Lighthizer also lobbied against the tariffs, similarly concerned that the drastic threat against the United States’ third-largest trading partner would upend the fragile trade agreement, which still requires Congress’s blessing.
But Trump was unmoved by the arguments and repeatedly said Mexico had to do more, one person with knowledge of the meeting said. The tariffs, he declared, were going to be announced no matter what.
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Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-defies-close-advisers-in-deciding-to-threaten-mexico-with-disruptive-tariffs/2019/05/31/d87ae82c-83ba-11e9-bce7-40b4105f7ca0_story.html
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