Weaponizing Tariffs To Advance an Anti-Immigrant and Ill-Informed Agenda Does Not Make America Great
WASHINGTON, D.C. — On February 1, President Trump signed executive orders that will slap 25% tariffs on all products from Mexico and Canada (with 10% tariffs in Canada’s energy exports), and 10% tariffs from China, ostensibly to punish those governments for failing to stop undocumented immigration and fentanyl shipments into the United States (‘stopping the flood of illegal aliens and drugs” according to the White House fact sheet). Politico has reported that Trump also revoked the “de minimis” loophole for packages from China, Mexico, and Canada as part of that order. De minimis allows for direct-to-consumer packages valued under $800 to avoid rigorous inspections and enter tariff-free.
Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch Director Melinda St. Louis issued the following statement:
“No matter the intractable problem, Trump’s go-to playbook is to bully our neighbors through tariffs and to scapegoat immigrants. Instead of addressing the actual causes or seeking real solutions to the complex public health crisis surrounding fentanyl, Trump jumps to impose damaging and self-defeating across-the-board tariffs and to spout more hateful rhetoric that dehumanizes our immigrant neighbors.
“While tariffs can play a constructive role in protecting U.S. jobs and enforcing labor and environmental standards when part of a strategic industrial policy, Trump’s approach is neither strategic nor appropriate. Using tariffs to bully countries to advance an anti-immigrant and anti-humanitarian agenda will do nothing to support U.S. workers and will make our immigrant neighbors less safe.
“Consumer advocates have long called for removing the de minimis loophole for all commercial direct-to-consumer packages, as more than four million potentially unsafe and illegal packages per day now enter the U.S. without inspection. Most of those packages come from China, so removing this loophole for imports from China may have a meaningful impact on reducing the flow of fentanyl in the short term, but, as long as de minimus treatment exists, commercial importers will likely shift shipping routes from other countries not covered by this order.
“To the extent there is a connection between trade policy and immigration, it is that decades of U.S. trade policy created with outsized corporate influence led to agricultural dumping, worker exploitation, and environmental degradation that has forced many people in Latin America to migrate in search of a better life. Rather than demonizing immigrants or blaming other countries, our leaders must overhaul our broken trade policies to address these root causes of migration and protect the rights of migrant workers.”