A Texas congressman laid out the often lonely task of defending Donald Trump’s tariff plan to Americans on Sunday as he admitted to CNN that the measures would hurt his district but he supported them anyway.
Tony Gonzales was on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday when he gave the matter-of-fact assessment. His state and district battled powerful flooding over the Fourth of July weekend that left more than 100 dead and dozens missing at a girls’ summer camp and an RV/mobile home park.
Gonzales was asked by CNN’s Dana Bash whether the announced “reciprocal” tariff rate for Mexico of 30 percent was too high.
The congressman was also queried whether his district would be “hurt” by the tariffs.
“It may,” responded Gonzales. “But I do support the president in this.”
President Trump began informing countries of effective tariff rates to go into effect August 1 as he seeks to apply further pressure to countries open to trade agreements.
“I think for too long, Mexico has gotten away with — been allowed to do anything,” the congressman continued. He repeated that claim a few seconds later — that Mexico was able to “do what ever it wants”, but did not give any specific examples of what he meant or how the U.S.-Mexico trade relationship had been impacted.
He added that he was focused on the upcoming deadline, which appears to translate as hoping that Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum could reach a deal with the White House before that point.
The spotlight on Trump’s tariffs largely evaporated over the summer as it became clear that Wall Street had mostly absorbed the effects of Trump’s tariffs on the market so far. Whether that will continue in August, once the remainder of Trump’s “reciprocal tariffs” go into effect, remains to be seen.
Trump was previously talked into extending a pause for those measures for 90 days, leading to the negotiations this month, but also revealing continued market fears about the reciprocal measures.
Mexico’s government said this week that it was open to an agreement.
“We believe, based on what our colleagues discussed yesterday, that we will reach an agreement with the United States government and that, of course, we will achieve better conditions,” Sheinbaum said, according to Bloomberg and the Associated Press.
But she also reportedly warned, in remarks made in the border state of Sonora, that Mexico would not bow to demands for unilateral concessions.
Her country signed a trade deal meant to replace NAFTA during Trump’s first term, the US-Mexico-Canada trade pact known as USMCA.
Trump, however, has continued to use tariff threats to bully America’s two closest neighbors into line, particularly on the issue of border crossings of fentanyl, which the Trump administration blames Canada and Mexico for not stopping.
In recent days, the U.S. president has used that strategy to push Canada’s government to drop a new tax on U.S. tech companies and even to attempt to try and force Brazil’s government to drop a criminal prosecution of Jair Bolsonaro, the country’s former president and a Trump ally. The Brazilian leader is accused of leading a coup to overthrow the government of his successor.
The director of Trump’s White House Economic Council, Kevin Hassett, said Sunday that Trump was using tariffs to pursue policy goals beyond any relation to trade deficits or unfair economic practices.
“Well, bottom line is the president has been very frustrated with negotiations with Brazil and also with the actions of Brazil,” Hassett said, while skirting around what those “actions” actually were.
“In the end, though, you know, we're trying to put America first. I think that a lot of people, when I'm talking to negotiators from other countries, at some point they'll say, ‘What did we do wrong?’”
Those border crossings were the reason cited for Trump’s announced 30 percent tariffs against Mexico.
"Mexico has been helping me secure the border, BUT what Mexico has done is not enough. Mexico still has not stopped the Cartels who are trying to turn all of North America in a Narco-Trafficking Playground," Trump wrote on Truth Social.
