US stock indices dropped once again on Friday,
around uncertainty related to President Trump’s threat to impose
tariffs on Mexico. This, combined with the losses earlier this month to
the US-China trade war, led to the market’s worst performance this year.
Trump’s announcement of a 5% Mexico-wide tariff starting on June 10, surging to 25% by October, is raising a lot of concern, with some major US companies that have supply chains in Mexico standing to lose billions of dollars over the tariffs.
Mexican officials are of course warning about the disastrous
consequences of this move, but the fear is even greater within the US,
with New Mexico’s governor warning the move could be “economically catastrophic.”
Trump has threatened to continue worsening the tariffs until all illegal
immigration stops. There are substantial doubts that Mexico could even
theoretically pull this off, meaning that as with China, the
administration’s hopes for a quick victory are unrealistic, and this
could be another long-term problem for the US economy.
US Companies Likely to Be Hit Hard as Trump Pushes Mexico Tariffs
Stocks drop Friday on new threats to US trade
Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.
Join the Discussion!
We welcome thoughtful and respectful comments. Hateful language, illegal content, or attacks against Antiwar.com will be removed.
For more details, please see our Comment Policy.
