THE TRUMP PRESIDENCY

[HairOfTheDog]

I know this is selfish, but if Trump puts 20% tax on imports from Mexico, I won't be able to afford avocados...If he and his supporters want a wall, and I am quoting a post on FB, he should start a GoFundMe account so he and his supporters can pay for their stupid wall....a wall is not going to keep anyone out or anyone in and thus, is not worth the cost to taxpayers. It will give a false sense of security...drugs usually come through the underground tunnels.

I don't think you sound selfish at all; I think Trump will run into some strong opposition, including from thinking Trump supporters, if he tries to sell a tariff on imports as "Mexico paying for the wall".

A tariff on imports would mean that US citizens are paying for the wall, plain and simple. Mexico will simply raise their prices by 20% to cover the tariff costs and U.S. consumers will pay 20% more. That's why such tariff plans went out of favor in the first place.

I guess it's possible that Trump could attempt to impose an import tariff AND price setting, but I don't know if that's legal.

Trump is trying to strong-arm Pina Nieto into doing what Trump said he would do publicly before having any private negotiations with the Mexican President and despite Pina Nieto's insistence that Mexico isn't gonna pay for that wall. It's Trump attempting to apply his real-estate 'art of the deal' strategy to international trade negotiations.

Personally, I think Trump has two things working in his favor: 1) Pina Nieto is one corrupt (albeit damned good-looking) motherfucker with a national approval rating even lower than Trump's, 2) Pina Nieto is out of office in 2018 anyway, Mexico has constitutional 6 year limits for its presidents. So, it's possible the Mexican President is more pliable than most if he personally gets something out of it.

For now, Pina Nieto is responding to the strong-arming in accordance with the wishes of the Mexican population -- Mexico is not going to pay for the wall. However, he is open to discussion and meeting privately with Trump soon.

I don't support any of Trump's Mexico-related agenda because I think he fails to see the benefit in our current relationship with our nearest ally and our third-largest trading partner, the U.S. benefits from the current NAFTA agreement and Mexican immigration, the wall will be more symbolic than effective, and I think the U.S. will lose as many or more jobs as it saves if Trump weakens Mexico's position.

But, we'll see what the two Presidents come up with.