Is he threatening tariffs to get a better NAFTA deal?
We already have the best NAFTA deal we could have. Yet no one is focusing on the actual specifics of that agreement, but instead are focusing on the trade imbalance as if NAFTA is supposed to fix that. It isn't.
We buy more from Mexico because we have more money, and because we want what they sell. They buy less from us because they can't afford it, and they don't want what we sell. That is economic reality. Yet here comes government again picking losers to 'help', while punishing winners - with zero consideration for the Invisible Hand.
Personally, I like Mexican peppers, tomatoes, and coffee. They are of higher quality than their US counterparts, and they cost less. And I want to continue to purchase those products tariff-free because it serves my utility best. It is a free exchange between Mexican farmers and myself, with additional commerce to truckers and import/export warehousing. Yet here comes government hellbent on ruining that for me, farmers, truckers, and warehouse workers alike, all because they are
economic imbeciles who don't understand that those trade deficit dollars in up right back here in the US in the form of capital investment.