During an interview with ABC News on Monday, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) stated that “I don’t want to see tariffs go into effect, particularly not for an extended period of time, against Mexico and Canada, because that would have harmful impacts on the Texas economy.” And “So, my hope is these tariffs against Mexico and Canada are leverage to secure our border and not an ongoing economic policy.”
Cruz said, “President Trump uses tariffs and the threats of tariffs for multiple different purposes, and one of the purposes that he uses them for is as leverage to incentivize other countries to do things that are in America’s interests. What he has laid out with respect to Mexico and Canada is these tariffs as leverage to cause them to do even more to help secure our border and to stop the illegal immigration that we’ve seen and the fentanyl that has been flooding into this country. I’ve got to say, in that regard, I enthusiastically support what the President is doing.”
He added, “[M]y hope is that these tariffs and tariff threats are leverage that will incentivize Mexico and Canada to do much more to secure our border. That would be a good outcome for Texas and America. Texas does a massive amount of trade with Mexico and a massive amount of trade with Canada. And so, I don’t want to see tariffs go into effect, particularly not for an extended period of time, against Mexico and Canada, because that would have harmful impacts on the Texas economy. So, my hope is this will prove to be what it proved to be during Trump’s first term. During Trump’s first term, he threatened 25% tariffs against Mexico unless Mexico helped us secure the border, that produced the Remain in Mexico agreement that resulted in the lowest rate of illegal immigration in 45 years. So, my hope is these tariffs against Mexico and Canada are leverage to secure our border and not an ongoing economic policy.”
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