Trump’s Top Trade Adviser Opposed Mexican Tariffs - The Wall Street Journal

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer spoke at the White House in March 2018. Photo: Evan Vucci/Associated Press

Vivian Salama and

Vivian Salama

The Wall Street Journal

Biography
@vmsalama
vivian.salama@wsj.com

William Mauldin

The Wall Street Journal

Biography
@willmauldin
William Mauldin

Updated May 31, 2019 1:50 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON—President Trump’s top trade adviser opposed the White House’s threat to impose escalating tariffs on Mexico, arguing that the plan could jeopardize a pending North American trade accord, people familiar with the situation said.

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer has argued that tariffs on Mexico further cloud prospects for ratification of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, the proposed successor to Nafta that is already facing significant hurdles in the Democrat-controlled House, these people said.

“Lighthizer is not happy,” one of the people, an administration official, said.

Jeff Emerson, a spokesman for the trade representative’s office, said Mr. Lighthizer “supports what the president is doing,” without addressing whether he supports the new punitive tariffs, specifically.

Mr. Trump decided to threaten tariffs as he became increasingly frustrated with the numbers of undocumented immigrants crossing into the U.S. through the Mexican border, the people said.

“This is something he’s talked about for a long time but people always talked him out of it,” said one of the people, a former administration official.

In recent days the president lost his patience, according to one of the people who spoke about Mr. Lighthizer’s concerns and a senior administration official. He had listened to his advisers for months, who told him not to take action against President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s new administration while it was forming its government, they said.

While President Trump hasn’t been able to get Congress to act on his signature campaign issue of building a border wall, there's another important immigration story developing. WSJ's Gerald F. Seib explains. Photo: Getty

“He got tired of waiting for the new government to settle in,” one of the people familiar with the situation said.

“The last time he did tariffs on Mexico, Mexico responded, so he wanted to try again in the context of border security,” the senior administration official said.

There was a meeting with the president’s trade team on Wednesday and again on Thursday, when the president phoned in from Air Force One, according to one of the people.

“In both meetings, the president made very clear that he wants to do this,” one of the people said.

U.S. officials, including Mr. Lighthizer, have stressed to Congress the importance of enacting USMCA, meant to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement, in part to show other trading partners that high-pressure talks with Mr. Trump can lead to a win for all sides.

One of the officials noted that Mr. Lighthizer has a particularly good working relationship with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and behind closed doors, he has managed to leverage that relationship to make progress in advancing the USMCA through Congress. Some in the administration now fear that the president’s latest move may derail any progress Mr. Lighthizer has made, the people familiar with the situation said.

On Thursday, Mr. Trump threatened to impose 5% tariffs on nearly $360 billion in goods imported from Mexico starting June 10 unless Mexico takes steps to stem the flow of immigrants across the border. If no action is taken, tariffs would eventually go up to 25% by Oct. 1.