A five percent tariff on all goods coming from Mexico will go into effect on June 10, and will gradually increase up to 25 percent until the illegal immigration problem is resolved, US President Donald Trump has announced.
This appears to be the “big league” announcement on the border Trump had teased earlier in the day, prior to delivering a commencement speech to the US Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.
Invoking the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, Trump said the US will start at five percent, but keep ratcheting up by another five percent every month, culminating with 25 percent beginning in October.
Tariffs will permanently remain at the 25 percent level unless and until Mexico substantially stops the illegal inflow of aliens coming through its territory.
The decision whether to remove the tariffs will be “determined in our sole discretion and judgment,” Trump added.
This appears to be the “big league” announcement on the border Trump had teased earlier in the day, prior to delivering a commencement speech to the US Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. Speaking with reporters outside the White House, Trump had teased a “very dramatic” announcement about the border with Mexico.
“No, I’m not closing the border. I’m doing something else,” he said. “And it will be my biggest statement, so far, on the border.”