Texas rep. Joaquin Castro (D) is slamming President Trump because of the President’s threat to impose tariffs on imported goods from Mexico if the country doesn’t curb the number of illegal immigrants crossing the border.
This comes after Austan Goolsbee (D), who formerly served as the chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers and as a member of President Obama’s cabinet, slammed the idea of tariffs because “it destroys more jobs than it creates.”
Castro called the President’s move economic sanctions that will only “tank our economy.”
The President is often highlighting that the economy has risen under his administration, and the Texas rep. seems to be giving him some unintentional credit.
In a statement provided over the weekend, Castro detailed that “Congress cannot allow this president to tank our economy and our relationships with our neighbors to further demonize immigrants fleeing violence.”
Castro is the chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, and he expressed that imposing tariffs will only invite reciprocal tariffs, which will lead to economic harm.
He explained that imposing “economic sanctions” will not give President Trump leverage with Congress or Mexico, and that it would only lead to a “disaster.”
President Trump’s threat involves imposing a 5% tariff on all imported Mexican goods starting on June 10th if Mexico is not able to curtail “the illegal inflow of aliens coming through its territory.”
The percentage would then increase to 10% on July 1st and, on the first day of the next three months, the tariff percentage would be raised by an addition 5% until it’s capped at 25%.
In Castro’s statement, he noted that Mexico is the no. 1 trading partner of Texas, the state he represents.
So, he called on Texas Republicans to oppose the implementation of tariffs, which has already seen Republican Senator Chuck Grassley oppose the move.
Jeff Guittard, the spokesman for Texas Iowa Senator John Cornyn (R), commented that Cornyn “supports the president’s commitment to securing our border, but he opposes this across-the-border tariff which will disproportionately hurt Texas.”
