Holy guacamole! Mexican minister stokes fears that Donald Trump will drive up the price of avocados and Corona beer after president suggests 20 percent import tax
- Trump proposed the tax on imports as a way to pay for border wall with Mexico
- Sean Spicer said tax would create $10 billion a year in revenue and 'easily pay' for it
- But he backtracked on his remarks after complete panic erupted on Twitter
- Many Americans worried that it would push up prices of avocado toast and guacamole
- Sen Lindsey Graham feared it would drive up the costs of Coronas and margaritas
- House Speaker Paul Ryan has estimated that the border wall will cost $15 billion
The days of chips and guacamole washed down with a cool bottle of Corona may be numbered thanks to the wall Trump plans to build between the US and Mexico.
Fear spread across Twitter on Friday that prices of avocados and Mexican beer would rise after it was revealed Trump had proposed a 20 percent tax on Mexico's imports.
As Mexico continues to refuse to fund the wall along the border, which could cost up to $15billion, Trump suggested that the tax could be used to pay for it instead.
But Mexico Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray revealed it would be the American consumers really paying because their produce and goods would become more expensive.
'You're going to make things ranging from avocados to appliances to flat-screen TVs, you're going to make them more expensive,' he said.
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Panic erupted on Twitter after Donald Trump proposed a 20 percent tax on Mexico's imports, with many fearing it would drive up the price of Mexican avocados
Mexico continues to refuse to fund the wall along the border, which could cost up to $15billion, Trump suggested that the tax could be used to pay for it instead
It was actually a fellow Republican who led the charge against the tax, as South Carolina Sen Lindsey Graham said the plan would make Americans 'mucho sad'
It was actually a fellow Republican who led the charge against the tax, as South Carolina Sen Lindsey Graham said the plan would make Americans 'mucho sad'.
'Border security yes, tariffs no,' he first tweeted. 'Mexico is 3rd largest trading partner. Any tariff we can levy they can levy. Huge barrier to econ growth.'
'Simply put, any policy proposal which drives up costs of Corona, tequila or margaritas is a big-time bad idea,' he concluded.
Another Twitter user wondered if pricey beer would finally sway Trump supporters.
'Maybe, if Trump supporters were not moved by racism, sexism, homophobia, and xenophobia, they will be swayed by more expensive Corona,' she wrote.
But it is Mexico who supplies the most avocados to the US, and Americans panicked at the possibility that their favorite breakfasts, dips and salads would be toast.
'Anxiety overtakes Brooklyn, where the prospects of avocado toast-less brunch hangs like a heavy cloud,' joked one Twitter user.
'Exiting a meeting to find out avocados will probably get more expensive is like reliving Election Day all over again,' bemoaned other.
Mexico Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray said it would be American consumers paying for the wall because their produce - including avocados - would become more expensive
Americans are panicking at the possibility that their favorite breakfasts, dips and salads will be toast
One user claimed that the tax was proof Trump 'hates guacamole', adding the hashtag #givemeguacorgivemedeath.
Others pointed fun at the fact that it took a world where avocados might be more expensive for some Americans to start protesting against Trump.
'I can't wait for y'all to start marching again when you realize your Avocado Toast is about to go WAY up,' wrote one user.
Not long after the uproar made waves on Twitter, White House press secretary Sean Spicer backtracked on his earlier remarks.
Spicer said the tax was just 'one idea' that had been proposed to pay for the wall and that the plan was still in its 'early stages'.
'The point was to pull out one potential aspect and say, "You could do this in here and easily do it,'" he told reporters.
Others feared that the import would raise the price of the relatively cheap Corona beer
'The goal is to say, "Hey, here is a way you could do it.'"
'We've been asked over and over again, "How could you possibly do this, there's no way that Mexico will pay for it," he added.
'Here's one way. Boom. Done.'
It was quite the backtrack from Spicer's earlier remarks, which had made the tax on imports seem like a firm proposal.
'When you look at the plan that’s taking shape now, using comprehensive tax reform as a means to tax imports from countries that we have a trade deficit from, like Mexico,' the press secretary said Thursday.
'If you tax that $50 billion at 20 percent of imports, which is by the way a practice that 160 other countries do....We can do $10 billion a year and easily pay for the wall just through that mechanism alone.'
Not long after the uproar made waves on Twitter, White House press secretary Sean Spicer backtracked on his earlier remarks that made it seem like the tax was a firm proposal
'That’s really going to provide the funding,' Spicer added.
Its a plan that would clearly put the burden of paying for the wall on American consumers, who buy $61 billion more goods a year from Mexico than Mexican residents do from the US.
House Speaker Paul Ryan has already said that Congress plans to front-load the money for the wall in a special appropriations bill.
He notably wouldn't say whether the costs would be 'offset' - or whether they would be considered emergency spending that would be added to the nation's debt.
'We are going to finance the Secure Fence Act, which is the construction of a physical barrier on the border,' Ryan told reporters.
'As far as the offset, we’re going to wait and see from the administration what their supplemental looks like,' the Wisconsin Republican added.
Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday approving immediate construction of the physical barrier that will divide the United States from its southern border.
He dictated, as he has all along, that Mexico will reimburse the United States in some form.
House Speaker Paul Ryan told reporters earlier on Thursday that construction on the wall would have a price tag of up to $15 billion. He said Congress would front-load the money
But Mexican President Enrqiue Pena Nieto has repeatedly said his country won't pay for the border wall no matter what Trump says.
'We're going to be starting those negotiations relatively soon. And we will be, in a form, reimbursed by Mexico,' Trump told ABC's David Muir in a Wednesday interview.
The wall will cost the US 'nothing,' he proclaimed.
Trump brushed off Pena Nieto's rebuffs in the interview, telling Muir, 'He has to say that...I'm just telling you there will be a payment.'
Pena Nieto stood his ground in a video address Wednesday night.
'I have said time and time again, Mexico will not pay for any wall,' he said.
The two leaders went back and forth until they both announced that planned meeting at the White House next week had been canceled.
'Unless Mexico is going to treat the United States fairly, with respect, such a meeting would be fruitless,' Trump told Republican lawmakers in Philadelphia on Thursday.
'And I want to go a different route. We have no choice.'
Pena Nieto claimed in a tweet before Trump's remarks at the GOP retreat that it was his government that called the meeting off.
'This morning we informed the White House that I will not attend the work meeting planned for next Tuesday with the POTUS,' he said.
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