Trump Executive Orders: ‘Trade War’ Over Mexico Wall, Muslim Ban Predicted
Will President Donald Trump end up being bad for American businesses because of the isolationist nature of his executive orders such as slashing business regulations, being a climate change denier, imposing a Muslim ban, or building the Mexico border wall?
Trump has been signing a number of executive orders during his first week as president, and building a longer wall between America and Mexico has already been called the beginning of a “trade war” after an interview with former president of Mexico, Vincente Fox, on January 30.
About Trump’s new executive orders, former President Obama addressed the American media on January 30 to give his opinion of those protesting against Trump and stated that they were right to protest because “American values are at stake,” according to Politico.
Other indications that Trump’s executive orders have gone too far include the firing of acting Attorney General from the Obama administration, Sally Yates, after she defied White House orders to enforce the Muslim ban in court.
About Trump’s executive order referred to as the Muslim ban, Sally Yates said the “Justice Department would not defend his new travel restrictions targeting seven Muslim-majority nations,” according to Yahoo.
After speaking at length about the negative effects America could suffer due to Trump’s recent executive orders such as the Muslim ban, political consultant Karen Finney stated the following to MSNBC on January 30.
“While [Trump] is [signing executive orders about the wall or the Muslim ban], he is not telling us how he is going to create all these jobs he has been talking about. He is not increasing incomes… he is saying he is going to renegotiate all these trade deals. Where is that?”
Karen Finney also noted that Trump thinks he has kept his campaign promises to his base of Bannon, Breitbart, and Alt-Right followers with new executive orders such as the wall between Mexico and America as well as the Muslim ban.
Obviously, executive orders from Trump that liberals and Democrats would like to see include his ideas on the economy, jobs, and trade, but Trump seems to be moving in the opposite direction of healing those areas most important to the Rust Belt or Middle Americans that got him elected.
In fact, by creating hostility with Mexico over the wall and countries like Iran through the Muslim ban, Trump’s executive orders have already put America at risk for what the former president of Mexico agreed would be called a “trade war.”
Former Mexican President Vicente Fox was on the Today show on January 30 agreeing with the statement that Mexico is “ready for a trade war“ with America over Trump’s executive order to build the border wall.
Vincente Fox went on to say that if Trump imposes an alleged “20 percent tax” on Mexico imports to the U.S. to pay for the border wall, it would be the American citizens that pay for these increased prices.
Furthermore, Vincente Fox stated he did not think Trump would go through with furthering the idea of a pending trade war with Mexico because, as Fox reminded the interviewer, Mexico imports $250 billion from the U.S. annually.
Vincente Fox also stated a trade war with Mexico could mean a loss of up to 10 million U.S. jobs if Mexico instituted trade sanctions on America.
On January 29, Iran announced, according to CNN, that they would respond to Trump’s executive order that included discussion about a similar ban on travel for Americans entering Iran.
Adding to the idea that Trump’s executive orders are going to cause economic problems for America, Senator Chris Murphy spoke to Morning Joe and directly stated the Muslim travel ban “is going to get American’s killed.” However, the Muslim ban could also have implications for business, economics, future trade, and jobs.
For example, Chris Murphy used Iran as an example and stated the following about America losing Iran as a potential open door.
“In Iran specifically, in a country that is tilting between hardliners and moderates that want to engage with the West — [Trump’s Muslim ban] is a huge win for hardliners… and if you are really worried about a conflict between the United States and Iran, this makes it much more likely.”
Later that evening, Senator Bernie Sanders stated on January 30 that Trump’s Executive Order to ban Muslims reinforces an idea to these countries that “America hates them.”
Forming profitable trade partners with enemies is difficult, and when speaking in reference to the Mexico wall executive order from Trump, former president Vincente Fox said on January 27 in an interview with Morning Joe that Trump’s “strategy in dealing with businesses is not [ideal for] government and among nations.”
Vincente Fox also claimed that Ford showing positivity toward Trump last week quickly soured when Trump announced his Muslim ban. According to Fox, this has led to a backlash toward Ford parts makers in Mexico that has led to “a decline in business.”
Vincente Fox also pointed out that if Americans are forced to pay a 20 percent tax for imports from Mexico that means a Ford vehicle could end up costing an American consumer $24,000 instead of $20,000.
Interestingly, Trump’s trade war was predicted by Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg after Trump ham-handed a tweet with one of Boeing’s biggest customers: China.
On December 6, Chicago Tribune stated, “The last thing Boeing… wants is an international trade war that could raise tariffs or greatly disrupt long-standing, albeit imperfect, global agreements.”
They also quoted Dennis Muilenburg emphasizing the dire importance of international trade for the economic health of America and stated the following.
“I’m not a political pundit or prognosticator — we have too many of those — but anyone who paid attention to the recent campaigns and the election results realizes that one of the overarching themes was apprehension about free and fair trade… If we do not lead when it comes to writing these rules, our competitors will write them for us.”
Besides the possibility that other countries joining in on a trade war could signal disaster for America, Trump’s executive orders about regulations could affect business in other ways.
For example, Reuters reported on January 30 that Trump’s newest executive order will “require that agencies cut two existing regulations for every new rule introduced and it will set an annual cap on the cost of new regulations.”
They also reported, “Consumer groups and environmentalists criticized the push to peel back regulations, arguing that it would remove important protections for the public.”
Naturally, cutting back on business regulations that concern environmentalists could be terrible for the American economy in terms of international trade.
For example, Australia looked down on America when Trump got elected because he is a climate change denier, and Australia speculated about imposing economic sanctions on countries that backed out of global warming initiatives set by the Paris Accord.
Countries that do not agree with Donald Trump’s executive orders could also retaliate in their own form of low-key trade war battles such as imposing higher import or custom duty taxes.
Charging a high fee to each citizen that gets a package in the mail from America could directly affect corporations as well as small business owners that specialize in ecommerce postal shipping from websites like eBay or Etsy.
Ultimately, as Trump pulls out of the TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) and talks of cutting ties with other countries to keep jobs in America, it could backfire on Trump, and his “isolationism” may be bad for businesses, according to CNN Wire.
As for the future of his current executive orders, Senator Chuck Schumer told Hardball on January 30 that Trump’s immigration ban is “likely unconstitutional” and was opposed by many constitutional law scholars.
Supporting this, Bloomberg reports, “So far, four U.S. district judges — in Brooklyn, New York; Boston; Alexandria, Virginia; and Seattle — have issued temporary rulings blocking aspects of the order.”
[Featured Image by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images]
