Mexico warns US against enforcing proposed border tax on imports

Aldo Flores, Mexico’s deputy energy minister, gestures during an interview in Mexico City, Mexico, February 15, 2017. (Photo by Reuters)

A senior Mexican official has warned the new US administration against the implementation of a proposed border tax on goods imported from Mexico.

Mexico’s Deputy Energy Minister Aldo Flores made the comment after President Donald Trump floated the idea of levying a 20-percent border tax on Mexican imports as one option to pay for the construction of a wall along the US-Mexico border.

“We don’t see this kind of a tax as a good idea,” Flores said. “Our position continues to be that free trade and the free flow of these goods have benefited both countries, strengthening the energy security of both.”

The Mexican official also suggested that American gas producers could be experiencing problems in Mexico in case of a border tax imposition.

Trump’s plan, which is estimated to generate 10 billion dollars to pay for the wall, would exempt export revenues from taxation.

This AFP photo, taken on August 31, 2016, shows Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto (L) and the then-presidential candidate Donald Trump shaking hands after a meeting in Mexico City. 

Trump, who took office on January 20, signed an executive order one week later initiating the process of building the border wall. He had repeatedly pledged during his campaign for US presidency that he would build the wall to stop illegal Mexican immigrants from coming in and would have Mexico foot the bill.

But when the Mexican government, angered by Trump’s plans, made clear that it would not be paying for such a wall, Trump came up with the taxation idea to make Mexico indirectly pay for it.

While the new US president has estimated that building the wall would cost eight billion dollars, recent congressional legislation put the cost at 10 billion dollars. Construction experts, on the other hand, say the actual cost could be more than double that amount.