On Thursday, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer suggested that one possible source of funding for the proposed Mexican-American border wall could be a new 20% border tax on goods imported from Mexico.
"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," Spicer said, according to a White House pool report.
We decided to take a look at the extent and nature of US imports from Mexico. According to the US Census Bureau, trade with Mexico has dramatically increased over the last three decades. In 1985, the US imported $19 billion worth of goods from Mexico. Trade value grew dramatically, especially after the implementation of NAFTA in the 1990s and 2000s, ending up at $270.6 billion in the first 11 months of 2016.
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The Office of the US Trade Representative included a breakdown of the value of different types of goods imported from Mexico in 2015. Vehicles took the lead, followed by electrical machinery and machinery. Billions of dollars of agricultural goods were also imported from Mexico.
Skye Gould/Business Insider