Trump Just Started A New Trade War With Mexico That Could Send The Economy Reeling

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Because one disastrous trade war with China isn’t enough for this out-of-control president, Donald Trump is planning to wage another one against Mexico – and it could send the economy reeling.

Trump announced a short time ago that he will “impose a 5% Tariff on all goods coming into our Country from Mexico.”

Earlier on Thursday, Trump – still thinking he’s hosting a game show on NBC – teased his upcoming announcement like he was promoting a season finale, saying, “It will be a statement having to do with the border and having to do with people illegally coming over the border and it will be my biggest statement so far on the border.”

White House staff don’t even think it’s a good idea

Though Trump seems eager to start a new trade war with America’s southern neighbor even as the U.S. and Mexico are in the middle of trade deal negotiations, his own staff seem to recognize that it’s probably a terrible idea.

According to The Washington Post, “[S]ome White House aides are trying to talk him out of it, arguing that such a threat would rattle financial markets and potentially imperil passage of the USMCA trade agreement.”

Not only will the stock market likely take a hit because of Trump’s decision, but it could sink the pending trade deal with Mexico and – like his trade war with China has done – hurt American consumers.

As Ted Genoways, a contributing writer for Mother Jones and The New Republic, said on Thursday, “If [Trump] attempts a simultaneous trade war with China and Mexico, the farm economy—and the U.S. economy—will plummet.”

Trump is trying to change the subject

After Robert Mueller made his first public remarks this week in which he all but admitted he would have indicted Trump if he wasn’t the president, Trump is clearly trying to change the subject.

In order to do so, he is desperately reaching back to the issue that riles up his base more than any other: immigration.

While this might animate and distract the 35 to 40 percent of the country that still supports him, it won’t fool anybody else.

And it almost certainly won’t slow the growing support among lawmakers in both parties that believe Congress should launch a formal impeachment inquiry.

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Sean Colarossi

Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.

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