White House official says Mexico tariffs aren't a given; Trump says threat is 'no bluff'
WASHINGTON - A top White House adviser said for the first time Wednesday that President Donald Trump might back down on imposing tariffs on imports from Mexico, but the president vowed the threat was "no bluff" as officials from the two countries prepared to meet Wednesday at the White House.
The mixed messages sent confusing signals to Congress, businesses and foreign leaders about Trump's threat to impose the tariffs unless the Mexican government cracks down on migrants to the United States' southern border.
Trump has said repeatedly he's prepared to levy the tariffs, even amid pushback from his own party. But Peter Navarro, one of Trump's top trade advisers, told CNN that the possibility of tariffs had prompted such rapid negotiations with Mexican leaders that it now appeared possible the import penalties would not go into effect as planned on June 10.
"We believe that these tariffs may not have to go into effect precisely because we have the Mexicans' attention," Navarro said.
Navarro mentioned a meeting that Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have planned Wednesday at the White House with Mexican leaders.
Navarro has said that the Mexicans must agree to hold asylum-seekers south of the U.S. border, increase police activity to stop caravans, and do more to seal off Mexico's southern border to stop Central American refugees. It's unclear how much capability Mexico has to do these things.
"Let's stay calm and look at the chessboard here," Navarro said.
U.S. companies import close to $400 billion in goods from Mexico each year, and Trump has said he will impose a 5 percent import penalty on Mexican goods starting on Monday. He plans to ratchet these tariffs higher each month until they are 25 percent.
U.S. business groups and lawmakers from both parties have said this could drive up the cost on everything from cars to groceries, but Trump has appeared undeterred.
Navarro's comments come after a torrent of fury from Senate Republicans, who had vowed Tuesday to try to block Trump's powers to impose the tariffs. They had warned that it would damage the U.S. economy and hurt U.S. consumers, and they appeared confident that they could muster a veto-proof majority to prevent the tariffs from taking place. White House officials were aware of the Republican backlash but had not signaled whether it would affect their strategy.
Trump is in Europe this week and has shown little willingness to backpedal on his threat to impose the tariffs. In a news conference Tuesday, Trump predicted the tariffs would go into effect and then negotiations would begin in earnest after that. He attacked Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., for suggesting that the tariff threat was a bluff and that Trump wouldn't follow through.
"He gave Mexico bad advice, no bluff!" Trump wrote on Twitter.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., on Wednesday criticized Trump's approach, accusing him of treating Mexico "as an enemy" and saying it was the wrong approach to dealing with the border.
"I think that this is dangerous territory. This is not a way to treat a friend," she said at a news conference.
Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., who chairs the House Ways and Means trade subcommittee, said in an interview Wednesday that House Democrats were reviewing their options for "containing the damage" from Trump's threatened tariffs. He said the tariffs are overwhelmingly opposed in the House and predicted a strong vote to block them.
Blumenauer attended a Tuesday meeting at the Capitol with Pelosi, Mexican Secretary of Foreign Affairs Marcelo Ebrard, and others. He said the Mexican contingent was preparing calmly for the critical meeting later Wednesday at the White House, in hopes of staving off the tariffs.
"They've been dealing with this mercurial, unpredictable behavior for two-and-a-half years, and they are pros. They have a lot at stake," Blumenauer said. "They seem to appreciate what the president doesn't - how critical getting this balance right is for both countries."
Blumenauer noted that just weeks ago Trump relented and lifted tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Canada and Mexico.
"They've seen these things come and go," Blumenauer said. "We've seen in the past the administration can turn on a dime."
White House officials this week had been preparing for the tariffs to go into effect, given signals by top White House officials that Trump did not plan to back down.
Navarro is a close adviser to Trump, particularly on trade matters, but his views often clash with others in the White House and it's unclear if senior administration officials had a unified strategy heading into the Wednesday meeting. White House officials, as of Tuesday, still hadn't pinned down the precise legal mechanism they would use to impose the tariffs, leading lawmakers to question if the White House was prepared for the fallout.