I’ve never heard of such a thing as the 20% import tax against Mexico that Trump has proposed. It strikes me as a harsh, unilateral attack against our neighbor to the south, similar to an actual invasion.
I understand that an economic blockade has been considered an act of war, but I’m not so sure about this tax. Is it an act of war?
If it is approved by Congress and implemented, it will have an enormous impact on the Mexican economy (and on ours). People will undoubtedly go hungry, lose their homes, and die as a result of it. In fact, its impact will be not dissimilar from that of a blockade, or an invasion for that matter.
So what can Mexico do if it considers this highly provocative act a casus belli? How can it go to war against the United States of America? It’s impossible. So in that sense, it may not matter whether Trump’s tax is an act of war or not, because the other elements of a war are unobtainable to our victims.
However, for King Trump’s subjects (us), perhaps it should matter. Our Chief Executive may be about to commit an act of war against one of our immediate neighbors in an attempt to extort sufficient money from them to fund one of his very stupid campaign promises. Is this something the American people can actually swallow? Will 46% of us actually laud and defend it?
As Trump portrayed this initiative during the campaign, he was going to use his chops as an effective negotiator to persuade Mexico to fund his absurd wall. Is this what he meant by “negotiate”? To point a devastating economic weapon at our neighbor until they’ve forked over the requisite billions? That’s not clever negotiating, that’s arrogant bullying and extortion, and it would be in our name.