Spicer painted the border tax as one aspect of a broader tax reform policy. “When you look at the plan that’s taking shape now, using comprehensive tax reform as a means to tax imports from countries that we have a trade deficit from, like Mexico,” said Spicer. By doing it that way we can do $10bn a year and easily pay for the wall just through that mechanism alone. The Mexican foreign minister, Luis Videgaray, said such a tax increase would pass the cost of Trump’s wall on to US consumers. Earlier this month, Mexico’s economy minister, Ildefonso Guajardo, warned that a border tax would unleash consequences around the world and could trigger a global recession.

Source: The Guardian January 26, 2017 21:48 UTC