San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce says the new tariffs on Mexico proposed by President Donald Trump will be damaging to the local economy.
News of the tariffs broke through a series of presidential tweets on Friday morning. Trump said that a 5% tariff will be imposed June 10 on Mexican goods and continue to increase by 5% every month through October, until "illegal immigrants coming through Mexico into our country stop."
In Mexico City, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said his country wanted to work with the U.S. to find a solution, but he also said the use of coercive measures doesn’t lead to anything good.
The reaction from San Diego business leaders was similar.
“Tariffs on imports from Mexico will be the most damaging for us,” said Paola Avila with the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce. “Imposing tariffs, trade policy to address migratory issues is not the solution. You’re mixing two very different issues."
Avila said those tariffs will cost all Americans. But she said the effects here in San Diego will be especially harsh. The region imports $4 billion a year worth of goods from Baja California, and the new tariffs on those goods will cost San Diegans a lot.
“That will result in $17 million for one month under the 5%,” Avila said.
Without a resolution, she said that $17 million in tariffs would balloon to $34 million in July and so on, until topping out at a 25% tariff in October. And Avila said the tariffs won’t solve the issue of illegal immigration.
“It’s certainly not going to address it, it’s going to worsen it," she said. "If you’re hurting the economy of Mexico, our number one neighbor, and the country ... you could actually increase migratory patterns from Mexico, not just Central America.”
