President-elect Donald Trump- Mexico will reimburse American taxpayers for a new border wall

[Hamartia Antidote]

Well, we'll see what happens. But my point was that Trump's claim that Mexico was going to pay for the wall was an obvious lie that has now been exposed.

Right now remittances to Mexico are $25B/year. He could do things to disrupt that.

 

[LA se Karachi]

Right now remittances to Mexico are $25B/year. He could do things to disrupt that.

You're not falling for his smoke and mirrors, are you? He cannot actually take the money from those people for the wall itself, of course.

Also, he has not committed to "disrupting" anything. Not that it would work anyway, of course.

"Mexico took in some $25 billion last year through such personal remittances. While that sounds like a lot of money, it represents only a small fraction (about two percent) of Mexico's gross domestic product.

Estimating the amount of money transferred by individuals to Mexico every year is difficult because official data account only for funds sent through formal channels such as banks and money transfer services, according to the Migration Policy Institute, a research group."

"Not only would making procedures more onerous for day-to-day transactions do little to actually improve anti-money laundering or counter-terrorism financing compliance programs, but could harm those efforts by driving money movement away from routinely used secure channels to underground methods," Chandler told the AP."

http://www.nbcnews.com/business/bus...p-s-plan-stop-remittances-mexico-work-n551211


American tax-payers will pay for the wall. Trump himself essentially admitted that. There's nothing Trump can do to force Mexico to pay if it doesn't want to.

 

[Darmashkian]

Could he try to blockade or sanction Mexico to make them pay for the wall?

Mexico is never going to pay for the wall. Of course, some of his die-hard supporters will never understand this. The blatant lying continues.

 

[LA se Karachi]

Could he try to blockade or sanction Mexico to make them pay for the wall?

Those are extreme measures that would likely backfire if pursued.

A military blockade of Mexico is a pipe dream. It would be expensive and would not be supported by the military, people, or the world. Not to mention, Mexico would likely fight back. Even Trump wouldn't dream of trying this.

Economic sanctions too are very rare and are reserved for the worst offenders internationally. Secondly, such a measure would have to be passed by Congress. There's little chance of that happening. Not to mention that such an action would start a trade war. The US would lose far more economically than the cost of the wall.

 

[Hindustani78]

http://www.hindustantimes.com/world...border-wall/story-VABQAAfUm0Q2taDbsjRY2O.html

President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed directives to build a wall along the US border with Mexico and crack down on US cities that shield illegal immigrants, proceeding quickly on sweeping and divisive plans to curb immigration and boost national security.

The Republican President is also expected to take steps in the coming days to limit legal immigration, including executive orders restricting refugees and blocking the issuing of visas to people from several Muslim-majority Middle Eastern and North African countries including Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Iraq, Iran, Libya and Yemen.

Trump signed two executive orders at the Department of Homeland Security, one ordering construction of a wall along the roughly 2,000-mile (3,200kilometre) US-Mexico border and the other moving to strip federal grant money from “sanctuary” states and cities, often governed by Democrats, that harbour illegal immigrants.

In cities such as San Francisco local officials, often Democrats, refuse to cooperate with federal authorities on actions against illegal immigrants.


“The American people are no longer going to have to be forced to subsidise this disregard for our laws,” White House spokesperson Sean Spicer said.

In an interview with ABC News on Wednesday, Trump said construction on the wall would start within months, with planning starting immediately, and that Mexico would pay back to the United States “100%” of the costs. Mexican officials have said they will not pay for the wall.

During a White House briefing, Spicer referred to the wall as “a large physical barrier on the southern border”.

“Building this barrier is more than just a campaign promise, it’s a common sense first step to really securing our porous border,” Spicer added. “This will stem the flow of drugs, crime, illegal immigration into the United States,” he said.

Trump has long said that he will make Mexico pay for the wall.

“We’ll be reimbursed at a later date from whatever transaction we make from Mexico,” Trump told ABC on Wednesday. “I’m just telling you there will be a payment. It will be in a form, perhaps a complicated form. What I’m doing is good for the United States. It’s also going to be good for Mexico. We want to have a very stable, very solid Mexico.”

His plans prompted an immediate outcry from immigrant advocates who said Trump was jeopardising the rights and freedoms of millions of people.

‘Political theatre’

“The border wall is about political theatre at the expense of civil liberties,” said Christian Ramirez, director of the Southern Border Communities Coalition immigrant advocacy group.

“It is not national security policy. Border communities are among the safest in the nation and patrolling them with tens of thousands of heavily armed, poorly trained, unaccountable agents puts lives at risks. This will turn these communities into de facto military zones,” Ramirez said.

Trump made cracking down on illegal immigration a key element of his presidential campaign, with supporters often chanting “Build the wall,” during his rallies.

The cost, nature and extent of the wall remain unclear. Trump last year put the cost at “probably $8 billion”, although other estimates are higher, and said the wall would span 1,000 miles (1,600 km) because of the terrain of the border.

Many Democrats have opposed the plan and could try to thwart any legislation to pay for the construction in the US Congress, although Republicans control both the Senate and House of Representatives.

Spicer said Trump’s directives would also end the practice known by critics as “catch and release” in which authorities apprehend illegal immigrants on US territory but do not immediately detain or deport them. He said they would create more detention space for illegal immigrants along the southern border to make it easier and cheaper to detain and deport them.

Trump’s actions could fundamentally change the American stance on immigration, as well as further testing relations with Mexico.

Many Americans view their country with pride as “a nation of immigrants”, and President John Kennedy wrote a book with that title more than half a century ago. But Trump successfully tapped into resentment toward the roughly 11 million illegal immigrants already in the United States and said during the campaign he would deport them all.

Trump, who in announcing his presidential bid in June 2015 accused Mexico of sending rapists and criminals into the United States, has also threatened to slap hefty taxes on companies that produce in Mexico for the US market and to tear up the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between the Mexico, Canada and the United States.

Trump and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto are due to meet next week.

Asked about Trump’s wall, Republican US Senator John McCain said a physical barrier is not enough to secure the border and called for the additional use of observation towers, drones and other technology.

“Walls can be easily breached,” McCain, whose home state of Arizona borders Mexico, told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” program.

 

[Zibago]

Right now remittances to Mexico are $25B/year. He could do things to disrupt that.

Sent by even US citizens so you are going to overtax some US citizens hmm

 

[Hindustani78]

http://zeenews.india.com/americas/p...gotiable-mexico-foreign-minister_1971034.html

Mexico City: Mexico is willing to talk with the United States in order to maintain good relations, but paying for President Donald Trump`s border wall "is not negotiable," Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray said on Thursday.


"There are things that are not negotiable, things that cannot and will not be negotiated. The fact that it is being said that Mexico should pay for the wall is something that is simply not negotiable," Videgaray said during a press conference at the Mexican embassy in Washington.

Holding true to his campaign promise, Trump on Wednesday ordered US officials to begin to design and construct a wall along the 2,000-mile (3,200-kilometer) US-Mexico border.

The White House has since then floated the idea of a 20 percent tax on Mexican imports to cover the cost of the wall, but later backtracked and called it just one idea among many.

Such a tax, Videgaray said on Thursday, would only harm Americans.

"Here in the United States avocados, washing machines, televisions, many things that North American families like to buy and that are expensive, would cost more," he said.

"It would be the American consumer who would be paying," Videgaray added.

The top diplomat was at the White House on Thursday to help pave the way for a visit by Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto when his team received word of a Trump tweet suggesting that if Mexico were not willing to build the wall it should cancel the trip.

Pena Nieto tweeted later that he had informed the White House that he would "not attend the working meeting" next week.

"We recognize that it is the beginning of a new relationship with President Trump and his government. We recognize that, as President Pena Nieto has said, we are ready to negotiate. We have clear priorities and objectives," Videgaray said.


First Published: Friday, January 27, 2017 - 11:30

U.S. President Donald Trump and Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto shake hands at a press conference at the Los Pinos residence in Mexico in 2016. | Photo Credit: Reuters

http://www.thehindu.com/news/intern...rip-to-U.S./article17098411.ece?homepage=true

Donald Trump tweeted that Mr. Nieto should cancel his visit if Mexico is “unwilling to pay” for the massive border wall being build to stop illegal migrants from entering America.
Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto has cancelled a planned trip to the United States after President Donald Trump tweeted that he should cancel his visit if Mexico is “unwilling to pay” for the massive border wall being build to stop illegal migrants from entering the U.S.

“We informed the White House this morning that I will not attend the working meeting scheduled for next Tuesday” with Trump in Washington, Pena Nieto said on Twitter on Thursday.

Mr. Pena Nieto's decision came hours after Mr. Trump tweeted that “If Mexico is unwilling to pay for the badly needed wall, then it would be better to cancel the upcoming meeting.”

Mr. Pena Nieto condemned the U.S. decision and repeated that Mexico would not pay for the wall despite Mr. Trump’s assertions that it would.

He was scheduled to be in Washington on January 31.

“Mexico does not believe in walls. I’ve said time again; Mexico will not pay for any wall,” he said in a video statement posted on Twitter. “I regret and reject the decision of the U.S. to build the wall.”

He said he would wait for a final report from his top officials who arrived in Wasington on Wednesday to meet with the Trump administration, and previous meetings with Mexican legislators, before deciding which steps he would take next.

Mr. Trump also tweeted that the U.S. has a $60 billion trade deficit with Mexico.

“It has been a one-sided deal from the beginning of NAFTA [North American Free Trade Agreement] with massive numbers of jobs and companies lost,” Mr. Trump, who has been in office for just six days, said.

Earlier, he signed two executive orders directing the construction of a wall, boosting border patrol forces and increasing the number of immigration enforcement officers who carry out deportations.

In a speech on Monday, Mr. Pena Nieto said his government was prepared to negotiate with the U.S. if Mexico’s national sovereignty was respected. He laid out economic integration and respect for the rights of migrants and the money they send home as his nation’s key negotiating points.

Mr. Trump has suggested some of the $25 billion in annual remittances that migrants return home would be retained to pay for the border wall.

“Neither confrontation nor submission. Dialogue is the solution,” Mr. Pena Nieto said Monday.

Mr. Trump said he wanted to build an “impenetrable, physical, tall, powerful, beautiful, southern border wall” between the U.S. and Mexico.

The U.S.-Mexico border is about 3,100-km long and traverses all sorts of terrain from empty, dusty desert to the lush and rugged surroundings of the Rio Grande.

Some 1,046 km of the border is covered already by a confused and non-continuous series of fences, concrete slabs and other structures. Mr. Trump says his wall will cover 1,600 km and natural obstacles will take care of the rest.

 

[Hindustani78]

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/593408/mexico-foreign-minister-paying-border.html
Mexico is willing to talk with the US in order to maintain good relations, but paying for President Donald Trump's border wall "is not negotiable," Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray has said. "There are things that are not negotiable, things that cannot and will not be negotiated. The fact that it is being said that Mexico should pay for the wall is something that is simply not negotiable," Videgaray said during a press conference at the Mexican embassy in Washington.

Holding true to his campaign promise, Trump on Wednesday ordered US officials to begin to design and construct a wall along the 3,200-kilometer US-Mexico border. The White House has since then floated the idea of a 20 percent tax on Mexican imports to cover the cost of the wall, but later backtracked and called it just one idea among many. Such a tax, Videgaray said Thursday, would only harm Americans.

"Here in the United States avocados, washing machines, televisions, many things that North American families like to buy and that are expensive, would cost more," he said. "It would be the American consumer who would be paying," Videgaray added.

The top diplomat was at the White House Thursday to help pave the way for a visit by Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto when his team received word of a Trump tweet suggesting that if Mexico were not willing to build the wall it should cancel the trip.

Pena Nieto tweeted later that he had informed the White House that he would "not attend the working meeting" next week. "We recognise that it is the beginning of a new relationship with President Trump and his government. We recognize that, as President Pena Nieto has said, we are ready to negotiate. We have clear priorities and objectives," Videgaray said.

*********************
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/593400/trump-seeks-20-tax-mexican.html

President Donald Trump is seeking to impose a 20 per cent tax on imports from countries which has a trade deficit with the US like Mexico in order to finance the construction of a border wall along its southern border, the White House said. This is one of the way to pay for the wall that the US is planning to construct along the US-Mexico border.

However the proposal is currently only for Mexico, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer told reporters travelling with the Trump from Philadelphia to Washington DC abroad Air Force One. "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.

"If you tax that USD 50 billion at 20 per cent of imports, which is by the way a practice that 160 other countries do -– right now, our country's policy is to tax exports and let imports flow freely in, which is ridiculous. By doing it that way we can do USD 10 billion a year and easily pay for the wall just through that mechanism alone," Spicer said.

"Right now we are focused on Mexico, but I think as we look comprehensively at our trade situation and countries that we have a deficit for, this is something the president has been talking about holistically," he said. "He has talked about a border tax. In particular companies that move out, ship things back in. But in this case, this really handles, is focused more on the immigration piece," Spicer said.

"Remember, keep in mind there are 160 other countries that do just this. We are one of the only major countries, in fact probably the only major country that doesn't treat imports this way," Spicer said. "In fact, we currently tax exports, not imports. This gets us in line frankly with the policies that the other countries around the world treat our products," he said.

"If you think about what a border tax on imports from countries like Mexico that we have a huge trade deficit does, that's really going to provide the funding," he added.
"But the other net positive that you have to realise is that through the wall, not only do we secure our border but I think we are going to save additional money that we would have had to spend on tracking down illegal immigrants and on immigration," Spicer said making a strong case for a physical barrier across the US-Mexico border.

Meanwhile, Spicer said the 20 per cent tax plan to be imposed on imports from countries with trade deficit like Mexico was in early stages and nothing has been finalised yet. The tax plan is in its "early stages," Spicer said. The President was really excited to see the level of support that both houses showed for his nominees, for his plan, for his desire to put America's security first," he said. Spicer said the President is still talking with the Republican leadership in the Congress.

"I don't think our job right now is to roll something out and or be prescriptive, it's to show that there are ways the wall can be paid for. Full stop," Spicer said in response to a question. "The idea was, there have been questions about how the President could pay for the wall. And the idea that, one idea through comprehensive tax reform is that there could be this idea that Speaker (Paul) Ryan and others have floated that through tax reform you could actually look at imports with countries that we have a trade deficit for, that can generate revenue," Spicer said.

"The idea is to show that generating revenue for the wall is not as difficult as some might have suggested. One measure alone could do this. So as we move forward the idea today wasn’t rolling it out or being prescriptive or announce anything, it's to say hey look, it's not that hard to do," he said. Spicer said there is nothing to be rolled out yet.

"There's nothing to roll out so the idea of asking for details on something, we're not there yet. It could be a multitude of things," he said. "Instead of 20 per cent it could be 18, it could be five. But the idea is to say that for all the 'how could this ever happen,' it's to say 'okay, here's one idea that gets it done really easy. That’s the idea, that there is a way that easily does this," Spicer said.

"You can do things in a very WTO-compliant way, but I'm not here to roll out a policy... Hypothetically yes, there are several things you can do and be compliant. You can say any country but if you look at just Mexico alone you can do that very easily," he added.

 

[T-Rex]

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/590133/trump-border-wall-mexico-pay.html
Trump on border wall: Mexico will pay us back
Wsahington, Jan 6, 2016, (AP)

President-elect Donald Trump today tweeted that Mexico will reimburse American taxpayers for a new border wall and that US money spent will be for the "sake of speed."

His tweet came as top aides consider a plan to ask Congress to ensure money is available in US coffers for the wall, but to rely on existing law that already authorizes fencing and other technology along the southern border.

The potential approach was confirmed yesterday by two congressional officials and a senior transition official with knowledge of the discussions; all spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

Trump said in a tweet early today: "The dishonest media does not report that any money spent on building the Great Wall (for sake of speed), will be paid back by Mexico later!" During his campaign, Trump repeatedly told voters if elected he would build a wall along the U.S. southern border and make Mexico pay for it.

Trump transition spokesman Sean Spicer said putting US money up-front "doesn't mean he's broken his promise." In an interview Friday on ABC's "Good Morning America," Spicer said: "I think he's going to continue to talk to them (the Mexican government) about that."

The approach could also stave off a legislative fight that Trump might lose if he tried to get Congress to pass a measure authorizing the kind of border wall he promised during the campaign.

It's not clear how much could be done along the 2,000-mile border without additional actions by Congress. Lawmakers passed the Secure Fence Act of 2006, but most of those 700 miles have already been built. Some areas are in much better shape than others, though, and long stretches are made up of fencing that stops vehicles but not pedestrians.

But whatever steps might be taken without Congress' approval would be likely to fall short of the extravagant new wall on the border that Trump repeatedly said Mexico would pay for during his campaign for the White House. And despite Congress' involvement in approving any spending, such an approach might also open Trump to charges of circumventing the House and the Senate to take unilateral actions, something he repeatedly criticized President Barack Obama for doing.

A spending bill including money for border construction could also provoke a legislative showdown given potential opposition from Senate Democrats.
Still, several lawmakers and congressional officials said the administration could have significant flexibility in taking additional steps without Congress' approval.

Trump should say what is going to happen if Mexico refuses to pay for his wall because likelihood of that refusal is much higher.

 

[Hindustani78]

Trump should say what is going to happen if Mexico refuses to pay for his wall because likelihood of that refusal is much higher.

United States is seeing in terms of national security .

 

[Hindustani78]

http://www.thehindu.com/news/intern...co-border-wall-would-work/article17101556.ece

Much was left unanswered. Would Mexico be footing the bill or American consumers? What items would become more expensive? Is this even legal?
President Donald Trump is promising Mexico will pay for his massive border wall. On Thursday, his administration finally suggested how- a 20 per cent tax on products imported from south of the border.

The new measure could be part of a comprehensive tax reform package that Mr. Trump and Congress will work out, the White House said. But there was great ambiguity about the proposal. White House officials later clarified that the tax was but one possible way Mr. Trump could finance the wall.

Much was left unanswered. Would Mexico be footing the bill or American consumers? What items would become more expensive? Is this even legal?

Some of the details Mr. Trump’s proposal still has to work out-

IS IT A TAX, A TARIFF OR SOMETHING ELSE?

It’s unclear.

The White House said Congress’ tax overhaul would place a 20 per cent tax on imports from any country enjoying a trade surplus with the United States. In other words, countries selling more goods and service to the U.S. than buying from it. The idea is to rebalance the playing field for U.S. companies by discouraging Americans from importing.

The idea appears to overlap with a plan House Republicans are pushing called “border adjustment.” Under this plan, the U.S. would refrain from taxing American companies’ exports, but would tax imports.

The new revenues are projected to top $1 trillion over a decade. The money had been envisioned as an offset for lowering U.S. corporate income tax rates, though House Republicans say it could also pay for a wall.

Mr. Trump, however, recently said he didn’t like the “border adjustment” idea.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR AMERICANS?

Mexican products would become more expensive.

That means pricier tequila, but also things Americans need- cars, eyeglasses and many basic groceries.

A Toyota Camry? About $1,000 more, according to Jim Lentz, CEO of Toyota North America, noting that a quarter of the car’s parts are imported.

U.S. exporters are behind the House plan because it would reduce their taxes.

Retailers such as Wal-Mart also could face higher tax burdens.

WOULD MEXICO REALLY BE PAYING?

Not quite.

The U.S. could recoup some of the wall’s costs by changing the tax and trade policies with Mexico. But the money wouldn’t necessarily be coming from Mexican taxpayers or the Mexican government.

While the tax would land first on companies exporting from Mexico, the costs would likely be passed on to consumers. That leaves Americans footing much of the likely bill.

Mr. Trump has said he’s OK with being “reimbursed” at a later point because he is keen to start building the wall immediately.

WOULD IT RAISE ENOUGH MONEY TO PAY FOR THE WALL?

Probably.

Various estimates put the wall’s cost at up to $15 billion.

IS IT LEGAL?

To be determined.

The U.S. has a range of obligations under the North American Free Trade Agreement and at the World Trade Organization. And Mexico is likely to challenge any new tax that penalizes its economy.

Mr. Trump has said he plans to renegotiate NAFTA. Mexico, however, is under no obligation to soften the agreement for his sake.

Other countries may also object, if their products and services are targeted.

Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, said the border adjustment is essentially a tariff that would be struck down by the WTO if it targets Mexico.

A topic of great dispute.

The White House said the plan would increase U.S. wages, help U.S. businesses and consumers, and deliver “huge economic benefits.” With so much of the plan ill-defined, it’s impossible to substantiate those claims.

Any turbulence in the U.S.—Mexican trade relationship could have implications for the entire world.

Mexico is the second-largest exporter to the United States, after China. The United States imported roughly $271 billion of goods from Mexico during the first 11 months of 2016, according to the Commerce Department, and ran a trade deficit of almost $60 billion.

DO REPUBLICANS LIKE TRUMP’S PLAN?

Not all of them.

Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan said on Twitter it would be a “tax on Americans to pay for the wall.” Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said he was “mucho sad” and that “any policy proposal which drives up costs of Corona, tequila or margaritas is a big-time bad idea.”

Even Mr. Trump’s pick for commerce secretary, Wilbur Ross, dismissed the idea of using tariffs as a trade ploy.

Republicans have traditionally hailed themselves as the party of free trade.

WHAT OTHER WAYS COULD TRUMP GET MEXICO TO PAY?

During the campaign, Mr. Trump floated a number of possibilities without committing to any in particular.

Opponents of that plan say Mexicans in the U.S. would likely find other ways to send money back. They could take cash with them when traveling, wire money to a non-Mexican bank or use off-the-books transfers that are difficult to police.

Mr. Trump also suggested increasing visa fees for Mexicans to raise money, or canceling business and tourist visas issued to Mexicans until their country pays for the wall.

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/593429/alibabas-jack-ma-warns-big.html

E-commerce giant Alibaba's founder Jack Ma has warned of a "big trade war" between China and the US under the new Trump Presidency if conflicts were not dealt properly.

He said China's economic outlook will be "tougher than expected" due to continued slowdown of Chinese economy and warned.

"In the coming three to five years... the economic situation will be even more arduous than everyone had expected," the e-commerce billionaire said at an annual meeting of the General Association of Zhejiang Entrepreneurs.

Referring to the slowdown of the Chinese economy to 6.7 per cent last year, the slowest in over two decades, he said it was "only natural" that China's rapid growth over the past three decades could not continue, and that the focus should be shifted to the quality of growth such as upgrading its manufacturing industry.

About the outlook on China-US relations, Ma, who recently met US President Donald Trump, said despite an "overall optimistic" outlook on trade between the world's two largest economies, conflicts "will definitely be there".

"If (the conflicts) were not dealt with properly, they might lead to a relatively big trade war which is not a good thing for China, the US or the world economy," he was quoted as saying by Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post which is owned by him.

Trump has accused China of being a currency manipulator and has proposed steep tariffs on imports from the country.

Ma also said Trump is a smart person and should not be underestimated.

"It is only that his speaking style and the way he does things are different from what we are used to expecting from politicians. He saw the many problems existing now in the US and he hopes to solve them in a different way. He is a businessman, a man of action and result-oriented," Ma said, adding that he believed Trump was "a very smart person".

In his meeting with Trump before the US billionaire was sworn in as the 45th President of the US, Ma promised to sell over a million US products in China through his e-commerce outlets and promised to create a million jobs in America.

 

[Hindustani78]

http://www.thehindu.com/news/intern...se-analysts/article17112588.ece?homepage=true

However, think-tanks also see new opportunities for China — including support for OBOR initiative.
The arrival of President Trump in the White House has triggered an intense debate within China’s influential think-tanks, with most concurring that that the change of guard in the United States poses serious challenges to China, but also opens out new opportunities, including likely support for the One Belt One Road (OBOR) initiative.

At a more fundamental level, some analysts of are of the view that that if Mr. Trump pursues the mantra of American “exceptionalism” — an assumption of Washington’s inherent superiority over other nations — that would obstruct the betterment of Sino-U.S. ties.

New players

“The Americans claim they are exceptional, like a city on a hill. But the world has changed and new countries have emerged. But U.S. identity has not changed. So the rise of China challenges U.S. identity,” Wang Yiwei, professor at Renmin University told The Hindu.

Listing a variety of responses to Mr. Trump’s arrival among the Chinese think-tanks, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post quotes Ting Gong, a researcher at the China Institute of International Studies (CIIS) — a think-tank under the Foreign Ministry — as saying that Mr. Trump was likely to be more supportive of China’s OBOR initiative than former President Barack Obama. She highlighted that former Trump adviser James Woolsey had criticised Mr. Obama’s opposition to the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), suggesting that the new U.S. President was likely to hold a different view from his predecessor.

The OBOR is Chinese President Xi Jinping’s mega-connectivity project envisaging revival of the ancient Silk Road, with transport and industrial infrastructure in Eurasia. A complementary maritime dimension called the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road is also planned under OBOR.

‘Proclivity for protectionism’

Yuan Zheng, a director of the U.S. Diplomacy Research Centre at the China Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), asserted that Mr. Trump showed a clear tendency towards protectionism. “The new U.S. President was likely to adopt a hardline approach in trade, demand for Beijing to play by international rules and threaten it with sanctions,” South China Morning Post said quoting his paraphrased remarks.

The Chinese establishment, including the academia, has opposed Washington’s possible turn towards protectionism. Liu Zongyi of of the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies explained to The Hindu that, “China has benefited a lot from globalisation and regional economic cooperation in the past decades.” He added: “China believes that only by opening up, globalisation and regional economic cooperation can economic growth and social development can be secured.”

‘Be confrontational’

Many Chinese scholars and former officials have advocated adoption of more assertive response to the Trump presidency’s supposedly combative style. Yu Yongzheng, a prominent member of the CASS, proposed that “Beijing should not yield in the face of Trump’s hardline approaches and adopting a more confrontational diplomatic style might be more effective in influencing Trump’s judgement.”

South China Morning Post described CASS as a leading think-tank in philosophy and social sciences, which came directly under the provision of the State Council, headed by Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang.

In countering the possible headwinds from Washington, Fu Ying, a former deputy foreign minister, proposed that Beijing should prepare its own tool kit and adopt corresponding measures through legal and economic means to deal with the post-Trump situation.

‘Political threat’

In assessing the “threats” to China from the U.S., Wang Jisi of the Centre for International and Strategic Studies at Peking University, stressed that rather than military or economic, the threat is “political” from Washington, which has sought to undermine the legitimacy of the Communist Party of China (CPC). “To us, the biggest threat posed by the U.S. is a political one, instead of economic or military competition. We see the U.S. as always intending to overthrow the Communist Party’s rule over China … and wanting to manipulate our domestic politics,” he observed.

The South China Morning Post highlighted the importance of Wang Huning, who heads the Central Policy Research Office, as a key player in foreign policy-making, having helped three Chinese presidents shape their policies. “He is seen as the only expert on American politics in the 25-member Polit Bureau and accompanied Mr. Xi on his state visit to the U.S. in 2015,” the daily observed.

 

[Hindustani78]

President Donald Trump -"We're getting gang members out, we're getting drug lords out, we're getting really bad dudes out of this country, at a rate nobody has ever seen before. ... It's a military operation because what has been allowed to come into our country, when you see gang violence that you've read about like never before and all of the things, much of that is people who are here illegally. And they're rough and they're tough, but they're not tough like our people. So we're getting them out."

Altogether in January, 16,643 people were deported, a drop from December (20,395) but a number that is similar to monthly deportations in early 2015 and 2016.

This month, Homeland Security officials have said 680 people were arrested in a weeklong effort to find and arrest criminal immigrants living in the United States illegally. Three-quarters of those people had been convicted of crimes, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly said. The remaining 25 percent were not. The government has not provided information about who was arrested in that roundup, so it's impossible to determine how many gang members or drug lords were in that group.

That effort was largely planned before Trump took office and was alternately described by the administration as a routine enforcement effort and a signal of Trump's pledge to take a harder line on illegal immigration. During the Obama administration similar operations were carried out that yielded thousands of arrests.

The 680 arrests were not carried out in a military operation. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, responsible for finding and deporting immigrants in the country illegally, is a civilian law enforcement agency.

Trump plans to increase enforcement, but Kelly contradicted him Thursday over the nature of that initiative:

"There will be no use of military forces in immigration," Kelly said while visiting Mexico. "There will be no — repeat, no — mass deportations."

******************************
http://www.businessinsider.com/mexi...gainst-the-us-trade-economics-security-2017-2

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly visited Mexico this week, where they met with the country's president, Enrique Peña Nieto, and other senior officials.

Mexicans' ire with Trump has been inflamed by his hardline stance on issues like immigration and border control, as well as by his administration's inconsistencies on some of those policies.

Kelly and Tillerson's meetings with Mexican officials come as the Trump White House seems ever more committed to imposing measures detrimental to Mexico's interest.

But the Mexican government looks to be assessing steps to raise the stakes for Trump and gain leverage in any future negotiations — whether over restructuring the NAFTA trade deal or the construction of a border wall.


Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray said during a press conference with his US counterpart that US-Mexico ties were at a "complex moment in the relationship."

In private, he was more assertive.

Tillerson, left, shaking hands with Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

"Time has been wearing down on President Donald Trump himself," Videgaray told members of the Chamber of Deputies on Wednesday, according to audio and transcripts obtained by the Mexican newspaper La Jornada.

"He has had some important stumbles that have placed him in a reality of a system of weights," Videgaray said — stumbles that have shown him "the non-omnipotence of a president of the United States, that he is a fenced-in president."

Videgaray said that the Trump administration's aggressive posture would give the Mexican government a "very important argument of legitimacy" when addressing potential allies in the American academic and businesses communities, as well as in the US Congress.

He also said the Peña Nieto administration was considering a more assertive response to one of Trump's more controversial proposals.

"If they place on us a tax on Mexican exports," Videgaray said, "we are going to put one on them, but better, because we are going to choose [those exports] which hurt them."

Videgaray's remark mirrors a call made by Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo in January, when he said Mexico should be ready to "take a fiscal action that clearly neutralizes" a potential border tax.

Products like corn from the US Farm Belt, where people voted heavily for Trump, may be the prime targets.

And while corn producers say they doubt Mexico would go through the pain and expense of shopping elsewhere, many are reluctant to test that theory. Already, investors have appeared to hedge against a possible trade war.

Mexico has other potential avenues through which to gain leverage with Washington.

People hold a banner during a march in February in Mexico City to protest Trump's proposed border wall and to call for unity. REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez

"For instance, just after Trump was elected, one of the senior figures in Chinese diplomacy traveled to Mexico and was received by Peña Nieto. There are talks about trade negotiations with China," Roberto Simon, the lead political analyst for Latin America at FTI Consulting, told Business Insider. "There are now also talks about increasing or enlarging the deal Mexico has with the EU, and Mexico is also negotiating with Mercosur, the South America trade bloc.

"We're clearly seeing that the Mexicans are saying, 'OK, even if the United States is out of the TPP, this is something that we want to move forward. ... We think that Asia will be one of the epicenters of growth in the next decades, over the next decades. So we'll maintain this very pro-trade approach regardless of what the United States decides,'" Simon said.

Others have suggested that, rather than taking active measures to counter Trump's policies, Mexico could strike back in a more passive way.

Workers making car mats at a maquiladora belonging to the TECMA group in Ciudad Juarez. (AP Photo/Ivan Pierre Aguirre)

"Mexico could take an alternative path that would provide far more effective retaliation against President Trump, while leading to fewer barriers and more growth," Dean Baker, the codirector of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, a left-leaning think tank, wrote at the end of January. "Mexico could announce that it would no longer enforce U.S. patents and copyrights on its soil. This would be a yuuge deal, as Trump would say."

Baker said that dropping patent enforcement would erode incentives for technological innovation and creative work, but in the near term, he wrote, consumers and medical patients in Mexico (and others who visit) would benefit at the expense of corporations from the US and elsewhere.

Mexico, of course, cannot wage a prolonged war of words or policy with the US.

"The time, from the point of view of the negotiation, clearly runs in our favor," Videgaray said in his remarks to federal deputies on Wednesday. But, he added, "not indefinitely."

Many investors and others were waiting to see how would things would play out, he said, noting the importance of Mexico's manufacturing sector, which has felt the strain of tensions between the US and Mexico.

Like US farmers, Simon was doubtful about how far Mexico would break from US products — 80% of Mexico's exports, he noted, go to the US.

It would take a lot to offset even a small change to US-Mexico trade flows, he told Business Insider.

"Even though the Mexicans want to diversify," Simon said, "it would take a long time to do so."

Videgaray told lawmakers on Wednesday: "I don't want to claim here that I am saying we are going to smack the table and we are going to succeed and we are going to achieve what we want. You know as well as I, that we are not going to change Donald Trump's form of thinking, we are not going to convince him, and he is going to continue being president of a long time.

"But we have to recognize that we have strategic advantages and strengths in this dialogue process," he said.

**************
http://www.businessinsider.com/r-fo...ials-question-trump-plan-to-add-agents-2017-2

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. Department of Homeland Security plan to add more than 5,000 border enforcement agents will present logistical challenges and might be unnecessary, according to former government officials familiar with earlier pushes to accelerate border hiring.

Three former top officials at U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) told Reuters in interviews that ramping up hiring at the agency, as outlined in a directive on Tuesday, would be expensive, while rapid expansion poses the risk of corruption if screening protocols for recruits are relaxed.

The officials said the agency should get what it needs to secure the border, but they questioned whether such a major staff expansion was necessary, noting that apprehensions at the border have dropped.

"Congress is going to be looking at this very carefully and looking for justification for this kind of money to make sure they don't write a check that is not necessary," said W. Ralph Basham who headed U.S. Customs and Border Protection during the George W. Bush administration. "The question will be do we need more agents or do we need money for technology and infrastructure," he said.

Additional enforcement officers are central to President Donald Trump's sweeping plan to crack down on illegal immigration, outlined in Jan. 25 executive orders on border security and interior enforcement. Tuesday's Homeland Security guidance for implementing those orders called for adding more than 5,000 border patrol agents and 10,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, officers, who enforce immigration laws in the country's interior, among other duties.

The White House and Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a question about the rationale behind the number of personnel requested.

"At the end of the day, the goal is to get control of the border and enhance the security of the country," said White House assistant press secretary Michael Short in an email.

A PREVIOUS SURGE

The proposed hiring surge would be the largest since the Bush administration, when Congress funded an expansion of border enforcement following the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks.

That effort doubled the number of border patrol agents from nearly 10,000 in 2001 to nearly 20,000 by 2008, according to CBP.

The agency was required to meet tight time requirements for hiring, said Basham who was appointed commissioner in 2006

The laser focus on quick hiring, and its cost, ended up "sucking all the air" out of other parts of the department, Basham recalled, leaving gaps for other spending needs.

Basham said he supports CBP getting adequate resources and was encouraged that the new Department of Homeland Security guidelines did not mandate a deadline to complete the hiring. But he questioned the need for a renewed expansion of the force.

More than 1.6 million migrants were apprehended trying to cross the U.S.-Mexico border illegally in 2000 compared to 400,000 last year, according to CBP statistics. "Currently the flow is not really anywhere near where it was," Basham said.

Jim Wong, who was Deputy Assistant Commissioner of CBP's Office of Internal Affairs from 2009 to 2011, said money might be better spent on other department needs.

"Throwing more human resources at the issue is not necessarily the best way to approach it," he said.

The union representing border patrol agents, which backed Trump in the presidential election, has long supported adding personnel, saying more manpower is needed to secure the border, said union spokesman Shawn Moran.

Homeland Security spokespeople declined to estimate how much the increased hiring would cost.

The 2017 fiscal year budget request for staffing at current levels of more than 21,000 border patrol agents was about $3.8 billion for salary, overtime and benefits, or about $180,000 per officer on average, although officers with different levels of seniority earn different wages. Additional costs could include housing for agents working in remote areas, equipment and support staff, former officials said.

In the last budget cycle, the agency requested funding for 300 fewer officers than the year before to instead invest in replacing aging radios and vehicles. CBP said the request reflected "realistic agent hiring expectations."



CORRUPTION SPIKE

Gil Kerlikowske, who headed CBP for three years under President Barack Obama, said one risk of rapid hiring is quality control.

"When you speed up the process and don't take the requisite time you pay a price later in things like corruption," Kerlikowske said.

During the Bush-era hiring surge, the Border Patrol had problems screening candidates, and internal corruption cases soon spiked, according to congressional testimony and government documents.

Congress then passed the Anti-Border Corruption Act in 2010, which made polygraph testing mandatory for all border patrol agents. Since then, tests have revealed candidates who were compromised by drug cartels or were heavy drug users themselves.

But the polygraph test and other controls have also slowed the hiring process. A 2012 GAO report found that between 2008 and 2012, only 40 percent of applicants passed their polygraph exams.

In addition to polygraph tests, applicants now undergo a rigorous hiring process, including a cognitive exam, fingerprinting, financial disclosure, fitness tests, medical examinations and background checks, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

Kerlikowske said when he left the agency at the time of Trump's inauguration there were 1,200 authorized but unfilled openings for border patrol agents due to the difficulty of finding and vetting enough qualified candidates.

(Reporting by Mica Rosenberg; Editing by Sue Horton and David Gregorio)

 

[Hindustani78]

http://www.hindustantimes.com/world...ts-by-april/story-j9KYyNW9frhhtBuuuaJWFJ.html

In this November 10, 2016, file photo, workers continue work raising a taller fence in the Mexico-US border area separating the towns of Anapra, Mexico and Sunland Park.(AP File Photo)


US Customs and Border Protection said Friday that it plans to start awarding contracts by mid-April for President Donald Trump’s proposed border wall with Mexico, signalling that he is aggressively pursuing plans to erect “a great wall” along the 2,000-mile border.

The agency said it will request bids on or around March 6 and that companies would have to submit “concept papers” to design and build prototypes by March 10, according to FedBizOpps.gov, a website for federal contractors. The field of candidates will be narrowed by March 20, and finalists must submit offers with their proposed costs by March 24.

The president told the Conservative Political Action Conference on Friday that construction will start “very soon” and is “way, way, way ahead of schedule.”

The agency’s notice gave no details on where the wall would be built first and how many miles would be covered initially. Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly has sought employees’ opinions during border tours of California, Arizona and Texas.

It’s unclear how soon Congress would provide funding and how much. The Government Accountability Office estimates it would cost on average $6.5 million a mile for a fence to keep out people who try to enter on foot and $1.8 million a mile for vehicle barriers. There are currently 354 miles of pedestrian fencing and 300 miles of vehicle barriers, much of it built during President George W. Bush’s second term.

Republican leaders in Congress have said Trump’s wall would cost between $12 billion and $15 billion. Trump has suggested $12 billion.

An internal Homeland Security Department report prepared for Kelly estimates the cost of extending the wall along the entire U.S.-Mexico border at about $21 billion, according to a U.S. government official who is involved in border issues. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the report has not been made public.

The Homeland Security report proposes an initial phase that would extend fences 26 miles and a second wave that would add 151 miles, plus 272 “replacement” miles where fences are already installed, according to the official. Those two phases would cost $5 billion.

The price tag will depend largely on the height, materials and other specifications that have not yet been defined.

Granite Construction Inc., Vulcan Materials Co. and Martin Marrieta Materials Inc. are seen as potential bidders. Kiewit Corp. built one of the more expensive stretches of fencing so far at a cost of about $16 million a mile, a project in San Diego that involved filling a deep canyon known as Smuggler’s Gulch.

Cement maker Cemex SAB is also seen as a potential beneficiary even though it is based in Mexico.

 

[Hindustani78]

http://www.businessinsider.com/ap-border-patrol-tunnel-rats-plug-underground-passages-2017-3


SAN DIEGO (AP) — They are known in the U.S. Border Patrol as "tunnel rats" — agents who go in clandestine passages that have proliferated on the U.S.-Mexico border over the past 20 years to smuggle drugs.

An air vent helps authorities investigate a cross-border tunnel from Tijuana, Mexico, to Otay Mesa, California, April 20, 2016. Thomson Reuters



The Associated Press joined the Border Tunnel Entry Team, as it is formally known, inside an incomplete tunnel that was discovered in San Diego in 2009 — 70 feet deep, 3 feet wide, 2,700 feet long and equipped with a rail system, lighting and ventilation.

Here are some questions and answers about the team's work:

How many tunnels are there?
Authorities discovered 224 border tunnels originating in Mexico from 1990 to March 2016, including 185 that entered the United States, according to the latest U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration annual survey. Many are shallow holes, but some are elaborately constructed with hydraulic lifts, water pumps and rail cars.

The vast majority are in Arizona, where smugglers connect to underground drainage canals in Nogales, and in California, where construction noise generates less attention amid warehouses of an industrial area of San Diego, across from densely packed homes and businesses in Tijuana.

What are they for?

This photo released by Mexico's federal police shows an underground tunnel police say was built to smuggle drugs from Tijuana, Mexico, to San Diego. Mexican federal police said the tunnel extends about 2,600 feet and is lit, ventilated, equipped with a rail car system, and lined with metal beams to prevent collapse, October 21, 2015 Mexican Federal Police via AP

An entrance to a tunnel crossing the US-Mexico border near Calexico, California. The passage extended about 60 feet into Mexico and at least 80 feet into the US, April 14, 2016. US Customs and Border Protection via AP


Tunnels are generally used for multi-ton loads of marijuana because the drug's bulk and odor are difficult to conceal for motorists and pedestrians who enter the United States at official border crossings, the preferred method for smuggling methamphetamine and heroin.

In 2015, authorities seized cocaine in connection with two California tunnels, including one that ran underwater from a house in Mexicali, Mexico, to the All-American Canal near the city of Calexico.

The tunnels, which the DEA generally attributes to Mexico's Sinaloa cartel, cost between $1 million and $2 million to build and take months to complete, said Chris Davis, supervisory special agent with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations. That investment quickly pays off with profits from smuggling if crews escape detection, he said.

How are tunnels found?

A Mexican soldier stands next to the entrance of a tunnel and packs of marijuana in Tijuana, November 3, 2010. REUTERS/Jorge Duenes

Leads from informants, neighbors and others have been the most trusted technique, but technology plays a part. Lance LeNoir, who leads the Border Patrol's "tunnel rats" team in San Diego, says seismic devices, acoustics and ground-penetrating radar complement human intelligence.

Investigators keep tabs on who owns and rents warehouses in San Diego's Otay Mesa area for suspicious transactions. They also visit businesses to ask them to report telltale signs: construction equipment and piles of dirt, jackhammer sounds, people coming and going at odd hours.

"They'll tunnel anywhere they want to. It's wherever they can get a building on the south side and a building on the north side," LeNoir said. "Location, location, location."

Sometimes agents stumble across "gopher holes" while on patrol.

Once the passages are found, the "tunnel rats" go inside, a dangerous assignment because there's always a chance the walls can collapse.

They map and measure the passages and work on filling them with concrete to prevent them from being used again.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump attends a news conference near the US-Mexico border, in the background, outside Laredo, Texas. Reuters/Rick Wilking


What happens after tunnels are discovered?
On the U.S. side, the tunnels have been filled since 2007 to prevent smugglers from burrowing into them.

In Mexico, they are sealed but not plugged with concrete.

Mexican authorities say they don't have the money to fill them, a vulnerability that is gaining more public scrutiny.

LeNoir says smugglers have tapped into existing tunnels at least seven times in recent years.

"It gets down to funding and political will," he said.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security says it spent $8.7 million to fill tunnels from 2007 to 2015. Last week, it awarded a $153,000 contract to inject concrete into the U.S. part of a completed tunnel lined with cobblestone. The tunnel was discovered in October. It ended in a San Diego warehouse 1,200 feet north of the border.

What does President Donald Trump want to do?
Trump has made construction of a "great wall" on the 2,000-mile U.S. divide with Mexico a signature issue of his presidency, prompting critics to say that people will go over, under and around it.

Trump, as the Republican nominee, promised during an August speech in Phoenix that he would "find and dislocate tunnels and keep out criminal cartels."

His executive order on border security doesn't specifically address tunnels but notes that criminal organizations run sophisticated drug and human smuggling networks on both sides of the border.

After going inside a San Diego tunnel underneath a highly fortified border fence last month, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly said drug profits were so enormous that smugglers would keep trying to burrow through.

"I would argue that the fact that they're spending huge amounts of money to tunnel underneath the wall tells you that they can't get through it," Kelly said.