Here is presidential candidate Kamala Harris being interviewed by Telemundo’s Julio Vaqueiro, talking about Trump's proposed tariffs on Mexican imports to deal with immigration issues:
Vaqueiro: “President Trump just yesterday said that he is going put some tariffs on all Mexican imports, until Mexico stops illegal immigration from Central America. What’s your take on that?”
Harris: “I have a couple of thoughts. One is that this President continues to push forward what I call the Trump trade tax. This is about taxing American consumers. People are going to have to pay more for washing machines, pay more for clothing, pay more for shampoo. When we look at the trade policy he is conducting in terms of China, now with Mexico, it’s going to result in people here paying billions of dollars more a year for consumer products.”
“It is also about an ongoing policy by this administration and Trump to vilify immigrants and to not deal with the real issue, which is that we cannot continue to have policies that are about vilifying people and rejecting those who are fleeing harm. We are creating human rights abuses in a way that this is occurring and it has to stop.”
Vaqueiro: “So how would you describe this approach of using trade to reduce immigration?”
Harris: “I think it’s foolish. I think it’s foolish. And the reality of it is this: We have families who are fleeing the murder capitals of the world in Central America, traveling through the country of Mexico, often paying coyotes to do so. Facing unknown peril. When a mother puts her child in the hands of a stranger to transport them through another country with unknown peril—the only reason mothers are doing that is knowing that if the child stays where they are they face greater harm. But what is this president saying when they arrive here? He says, ‘Go back to where you came from’. (…)”
I suspect that many of the Democratic presidential candidates are agonizing over how to deal with trade issues. With Trump being such an economic nationalist, and polls showing Democratic voters being more pro-trade these days, there will be a temptation to move the party towards free trade. But at the same time, there is important labor union support up for grabs. It's difficult for some of the candidates to figure out how to manage that. These tariffs on Mexican imports were probably an easy call, but still, I thought it was interesting that Harris is using the term "Trump trade tax." It seems like perhaps she is positioning herself, on this issue at least, as the moderate-friendly alternative to Sanders and Warren.
