Donald Trump could build up to seven walls on the US-Mexico border with the money raised by imposing tariffs on all Mexican imports until next October.
In fact, by July, the U.S. would have enough money to pay for a wall, budgeted at about 21,600 million dollars.
If the Mexico tariffs plan designed by Trump is applied in retaliation for the supposed null actions of Mexico to control the Central American migration, by October there will have been added 161,847 million dollars not foreseen. Enough to build seven border walls and pay for the painting too.
These figures are the result of a projection exercise that considered the value of Mexican imports in 2018 of the respective months of gradual application of Trump’s tariff plan in 2019. The program would begin on June 10 with 5% tariffs on all Mexican merchandise, in July the percentage would rise to 10%, in August to 15%, in September to 20% to end in October at 25%.
With this, the money the U.S will receive by the tariff rates would add 161,847 million dollars by October 2019, according to data from the US Department of Commerce.
This amount means an amount 7.5 times more than the projected cost for the wall in 2017, which in an internal report of the United States Department of Security was estimated at 21,600 million dollars.
Just the money from the Mexico tariffs accumulated from June to October in the category of industrial supplies (37,049 million dollars), such as oil and other petroleum goods, can pay the border wall with Mexico and still have left over 71.52% of another barrier.
Carlos Alberto Bautista, a professor of economics and academics at the La Salle University Business School, said that it is unlikely that the conditions will be met for Trump to use the money from the tariffs on the border wall.
“He can not just take money and allocate it to build the border wall. It is a question that, in this case, the members of Congress should first review. Even if he tried it through a decree, it would have to be revised, “said Bautista.
The expert said that even the probability that the tariffs come into force is very low, due to the effects they would cause to the US economy. The companies and final consumers, he explained, would be the hardest hit.
“If Trump were to seek to build the wall supported by tariffs, he would be wrong. American concrete and steel are expensive, so in the end he would have to resort to those in Mexico, whose cost would rise, “he said.
The southern border of the United States has an area of 1,954 miles. More than 1,000 different types of fences have already been built, mainly in states with a high presence of immigrants, such as California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.
Donald Trump celebrated on Twitter a victory from the Supreme Court against members of the Democratic Party, in his quest to fulfill his main campaign promise: the construction of a border wall, is essential for his intention to continue in the White House.
Trump’s wall project estimates say that three and a half years of work will be necessary to raise the wall, while some experts consider a 10-year period.
