<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><i class="">Some reports the White House is already walking this back. Hopefully so!<br class=""></i><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/26/us/politics/mexico-wall-tax-trump.html?emc=edit_na_20170126&nl=breaking-news&nlid=69588788&ref=headline&_r=0" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114);" class="">https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/26/us/politics/mexico-wall-tax-trump.html?emc=edit_na_20170126&nl=breaking-news&nlid=69588788&ref=headline&_r=0</a><o:p class=""></o:p></div><h1 style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 24pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">Trump Plans 20% Tax on Mexican Imports to Pay for Border Wall<o:p class=""></o:p></h1><p class="byline-dateline" style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="byline">By <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/by/michael-d-shear" title="More Articles by MICHAEL D. SHEAR" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114);" class=""><span class="byline-author"><span style="color: blue;" class="">MICHAEL D. SHEAR</span></span></a><o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="byline-dateline" style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">JAN. 26, 2017 <o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="story-body-text" style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">PHILADELPHIA — President Trump plans to make Mexico pay for his border wall by imposing a 20 percent tax on all imports into the United States from Mexico, raising billions of dollars that would cover the cost of the new barrier.<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="story-body-text" style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">The proposal, which Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, said the president discussed privately with congressional Republicans before giving remarks at a party retreat here, would be a major new economic proposal that could have far-reaching implications for consumers, manufacturers and relations between the two governments.<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="story-body-text" style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">Mr. Spicer said the 20 percent tax on annual Mexican imports would raise $10 billion a year and would easily pay for a border wall that is estimated to cost between $8 billion and $20 billion. The value of imported goods from Mexico in 2015 was $296 billion. Mr. Spicer said taxing imports is something that 160 other countries already do.<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="story-body-text" style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">The new tax would be imposed on Mexico as part of a tax overhaul that Mr. Trump intends to pursue with the Republican Congress. Mr. Spicer said the tax initially would apply only to Mexico, but that the president supports imposing a 20 percent tax on all imports.<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="story-body-text" style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">Mr. Trump would need new legislation to enact such a comprehensive tax on Mexican imports.<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><em class="">Follow The New York Times’s politics and Washington coverage on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/nytpolitics" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114);" class="">Facebook</a> and <a href="http://twitter.com/nytpolitics" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114);" class="">Twitter</a>, and sign up for the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/newsletters/politics/" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114);" class="">First Draft politics newsletter</a>.</em></p><div class=""><br class=""></div></div><div class=""><br class=""></div></body></html>