White House counselor Kellyanne Conway said Friday that an import tax of between 5 and 20 percent on Mexican goods could be one way to pay for a wall along the United States’ southern border.
“One possibility is to tax the imports from Mexico anywhere from 5 to 20 percent — that’s one option on the table,” Ms. Conway said on “CBS This Morning.”
“It could be congressional funding that’s then reimbursed by Mexico,” she said.
On Thursday, press secretary Sean Spicer had floated a 20 percent figure as a possible option.
“Mexico should pay for that wall because they get an awful lot from this country through NAFTA and through other monetary disbursements,” Ms. Conway said.
During the presidential campaign, Mr. Trump also floated the possibility of trying to tighten controls on remittance payments that Mexican workers in the U.S. send back home as a way to get Mexico to pay for the wall.
SEE ALSO: Donald Trump plan for wall on border sinks talks with Mexico
On Thursday, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto cancelled a planned trip to the White House next week after Mr. Trump laid out a set of executive actions on immigration, which included a call to build the wall.
Ms. Conway said it’s not a step back.
“The relationship was not imploded. This one meeting has been cancelled,” she said. “That was a mutual cancellation. President Trump mentioned it first, of course, at 9:24 a.m. yesterday morning, basically saying that hey, if he’s not going to come here to discuss funding the wall, maybe we shouldn’t have the meeting now.”
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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