by El Reportero‘s wire services
Marcelo Ebrard insisted that the tax policy is inconvenient, in the first instance, for the US economy
The Secretary of Economy of Mexico, Marcelo Ebrard, warned that if the president-elect of the US, Donald Trump, decides to impose a 25 percent tariff on Mexican products, his country will respond with an identical measure, which will be highly detrimental to the US economy.
“If you apply 25 percent tariffs to me, then I have to react with tariffs and I am your main importer, along with Canada. So, if you put tariffs, […] we are going to have to impose tariffs. And what does that lead to? Well, to a huge cost for the North American economy,” said the senior official, in an interview given on Monday to a local radio station.
He also assured that although the Republican magnate could “think about and put on the table” that decision, his “main promoters” would not support it, given the high economic impact of the measure. “Structurally we have conditions to go in favor of Mexico,” he added.
When detailing the concrete consequences of the imposition of taxes on Mexican goods, he mentioned that this will translate into an immediate increase in prices.
“That 25 percent translates to you the next day – I am not talking about the medium term – in an increase in prices in the US,” he explained, so it can be considered as “an important limitation” that cannot be omitted, despite the fact that the Mexican economy is “20 times smaller” than the American one.
Ebrard called to remember that it is not the first time that Trump threatens to tax Mexican products, if measures are not taken to stop migratory flows. In fact, the Republican had already tried, without success, to get Mexico to sign a “safe third country” treaty, which implied that all migrants who arrived on US soil without complying with the legal requirements would be returned to the neighboring country, which was rejected by all instances of the Administration of the then president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
“We took measures, we regulated that flow or helped regulate that flow, but we do not accept that treaty,” he said.
https://mf.b37mrtl.ru/actualidad/public_video/2024.11/6733c4b3e9ff71777f0c359d.mp4?download=1
In other unrelated news
Bukele’s recommendation to reform the Costa Rican penitentiary system
Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves said that his Salvadoran counterpart has given them “key messages”
The president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, assured this Tuesday that “the penal system must be reformed” and “must be completely controlled by the Government” in Costa Rica, where he closes a two-day visit today.
“Clearly prisoners in Costa Rica have many more rights than in El Salvador,” said Bukele after visiting, together with his Costa Rican counterpart, Rodrigo Chaves, the La Reforma Penitentiary Center, one of the main prisons in the country.
He then said that “it would be immoral, unethical and lacking in all justice for a prisoner to live on more” than what a citizen with a minimum wage and an average family earns. “The maximum rate should be how a working Costa Rican earns, who pays taxes to support the prisons,” he said.
Once Chaves confirmed that the State currently pays much more than that, Bukele reacted: “In other words, they are spending almost two minimum wages per inmate. It is an injustice for good Costa Ricans.”
At the end of a press conference, a journalist asked Bukele about any recommendations for the Costa Rican model and the head of state insisted that “the penitentiary system should be made less permissive,” especially because of the “access to the outside that prisoners have.”
“It is a fairly permissive regime with regard to intimate visits,” responded the Salvadoran president. “It cannot be that [a prisoner] sees a different young lady every time,” he added.
In turn, Chaves said that Bukele has given them “key messages” to resolve the security problem. “The gentleman has enormous wisdom and credibility to speak to the people of Costa Rica,” he added.
