President Trump on Thursday reiterated his willingness to impose tariffs on Mexico if the country does not crack down on the flow of migrants toward the U.S. despite opposition from within his own party, saying some senators “have no idea what they’re talking about” on the issue.
Trump stopped briefly to speak with reporters before leaving for a ceremony in Normandy, France, to mark the 75th anniversary of the D-Day invasion. Most of those comments focused on the ongoing talks with Mexico to potentially avert the use of tariffs.{mosads}
“We’ll see what happens. But something pretty dramatic could happen,” Trump said. “We’ve told Mexico the tariffs go on. And I mean it, too. And I’m very happy with it. And lot of people, senators included, they have no idea what they’re talking about when it comes to tariffs. They have no — absolutely no idea.”
“When you have the money, when you have the product, when you have the thing that everybody wants, you’re in a position to do very well with tariffs, and that’s where we are,” he continued. “We’re the piggybank. The United States is the piggybank. It has all the money that others want to take from us, but they’re not taking it so easy anymore. It’s a lot different.”
Trump last week threatened to impose a 5 percent tariff on Mexican imports beginning next week. The duties could increase to 25 percent by October if the Trump administration deems Mexico has not done enough to crack down on migration and criminal gangs.
The president said discussions in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday yielded progress on key issues “but not nearly enough,” citing a report the Department of Homeland Security released earlier on Wednesday saying that border arrests in May had hit 133,000 — a total not reached in more than a decade.
Mexican and U.S. officials will meet again on Thursday, though Trump and Vice President Pence will both be out of town.
The president has repeatedly maintained that tariffs will boost the U.S. economy by bringing additional money into the Treasury. But economists have noted that is not the case and that tariffs make imported products more expensive for American consumers.
Numerous Republican and Democratic senators, however, have raised concerns about Trump’s use of tariffs and warned that using the tactic against Mexico could negatively impact the U.S. economy. GOP Sens. John Cornyn (Texas), Roy Blunt (Mo.) and Susan Collins (Maine) are among those who have called for the Trump administration to hold off on using tariffs.
Mexico recently became the U.S.’s top trading partner. The U.S. imported $346.5 billion in goods from Mexico last year, according to the U.S. trade representative.