Regardless of whether wall construction is funded through a discriminatory tariff on imports from Mexico or the border adjustment taxes envisaged in the GOP tax proposal, U.S. consumers and taxpayers will be flipping the bill. The very idea of building the wall in the first place is a disgrace, but demonizing our neighbors and hatching plans that could subvert the Mexican economy and put another Venezuela on our southern border, is belligerent and potentially disastrous.
Hitting all Mexican imports with a 20% tariff is, unfortunately, something the president could do. Under the Constitution, Congress is authorized to regulate foreign commerce, which includes imposing tariffs. But over the years, Congress has delegated some of that authority to the president through various statutes. All of those statutes require that some condition be met (findings of a surge in imports; subsidized imports; unfair foreign practices that hurt U.S. companies; national security crises; public health or safety threats, etc.) before restrictions can be imposed. Sometimes the restrictions are limited in magnitude and duration, sometimes not. Sometimes the actions are subject to judicial review, sometimes not.
Read more at https://www.cato.org/blog/trumps-wall-plan-disgraceful-belligerent-disastrous
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