Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I rise today to vigorously condemn the administration's threats to impose damaging tariffs on imports from Mexico. The proposal underlines a serious misunderstanding of how our economy benefits from trade with Mexico. Here are the facts. Mexico is the United States' largest trading partner in the world. In Texas alone, Laredo and El Paso saw $55.8 billion and $18.6 billion in trade passing through their borders last year. Every product from Mexico will be taxed higher by the White House, forcing us to pay more for household goods we buy every day. It is not just the avocados we use for guacamole or the tequilas we use for margaritas, not that I drink any of them. It will be everything, autos, computers, and machine goods. Some estimate that even a 5 percent general tariff could eliminate more than 400,000 U.S. jobs. This would be catastrophic to my State and other States on the border. The White House clearly does not understand the special economic relationship between Texas and Mexico and has shown that it is willing to throw away our economy for bravado and bullying. ____________________”