The U.S. Chamber of Commerce says it is considering a legal challenge to President Trump’s newly announced tariffs on Mexico over illegal immigration.
“We have no choice but to explore every option available to push back,” the business lobby’s executive vice president and chief policy officer, Neil Bradley, said in a Friday statement.
“Because of the intense negative impact of this move, we have to consider all options: legal, congressional, etc.,” he added.
The Chamber was among a number of business groups that slammed Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on Mexico this week. Bradley said the cost of the tariffs will fall to American families and businesses.{mosads}
“These tariffs will be paid by American families and businesses without doing a thing to solve the very real problems at the border. Instead, Congress and the president need to work together to address the serious problems at the border,” he said.
Bradley also told Bloomberg News in a Friday interview that the Chamber is “exploring what legal options might be available.”
“We would like to persuade the administration that there are better ways to deal with” immigration, he told the news outlet. He added that the Chamber would lobby the White House and Congress over the issue.
White House spokesman Judd Deere told Bloomberg that “industry should be in communication with their counterparts in Mexico to encourage the Mexican government to work with the administration and stave off the dangerous crisis at our southern border as quickly as possible.”
President Trump announced Thursday on Twitter that he would place a 5 percent tariff on Mexican imports starting June 10 “until such time as illegal migrants coming through Mexico, and into our Country, STOP.”