President Donald Trump’s campaign proposal to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border is not going as planned.
Mexico’s President Enrique Peña Nieto disclosed that Mexico will not pay for the wall, despite Trump’s promises during his campaign. Trump’s administration estimates the wall to cost $15 billion or more.
The main plan currently in discussion is to create a 20 percent tax on Mexican imports, as well as with other countries the U.S has a trade deficit with. The U.S. accepts more than $500 billion worth of imports from Mexico each year. Sean Spicer, President Trump’s spokesman, said that a 20 percent tax increase will quickly over the wall’s cost.
“This is the beginning of this plan to make sure it’s done right,” he said. “It clearly provides the funding and it does so in a way that ensures the American taxpayer is wholly respected.”
With the additional tax, many fear that U.S. consumers will end up paying the difference in cost from Mexican-made goods. Spicer said, however, that the cost in this process is small compared to the decrease in illegal border crossings. He claims the wall will increase wages for U.S. workers.
“Right now, we’ve got an influx of cheap labor,” he said. “[The wall] is going to put the American consumer back, net-net, to make sure that American workers get lifted up as well.”
After much negative feedback about this plan, however, Spicer stated that the administration’s job right now is not to “roll something out and/or be prescriptive.”
“It’s to show that there are ways the wall can be paid for,” he said. “The idea is to show that generating revenue for the wall is not as difficult as some might have suggested.”
President Nieto canceled his meeting with President Trump’s, scheduled for next week, after tension between the U.S. and Mexico over the wall increases.
