State Rep. Rafael Anchia (D-Dallas) on Thursday penned a letter to a United States Trade Representative urging the federal government to reconsider tariffs on imported Mexican goods announced by president Donald Trump last week.
Trump says he’ll impose a 5 percent tariff starting this Monday, with increases gradually up to 25 percent by October. That would be “devastating to both the United States and Mexican economies, with particularly harmful implications for the state of Texas,” writes Anchia. The letter was signed by 56 members of the Texas House, including nine from North Texas.
Trump’s threat is an attempt to get Mexico to crack down on the flow of migrants across the border. More from Anchia’s letter:
Texas serves as the biggest exporter of goods and services in the United States—totaling $264.5 billion in 2017. The volume of Texas exports was larger than that of the second-largest exporting state by more than $90 billion. Texas companies maintain well-developed cross-border supply chains, and a mutually-beneficial trade relationship with our state’s number-one trading partner, Mexico. In 2017, our state exported $97.3 billion, and imported $89 billion from Mexico, with an additional 382,000 Texas jobs that depend on trade with Mexico.
The letter was signed by North Texas reps Jessica Gonzalez, Terry Meza, Victoria Neave, Toni Rose, Chris Turner, John Turner, Ramon Romero Jr., and Carl Sherman.
Full thing here:
Today, I joined 55 of my colleagues in the TX House and submitted a letter to the @USTradeRep44 & @POTUS regarding the proposed tariffs on all imports from Mexico. As the 10th largest economy in the world, Texas must maintain its competitiveness in the global economy. #txlege pic.twitter.com/T6udNFe016
— Rafael Anchía (@RafaelAnchia) June 7, 2019
