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Mexico slaps tariffs on US products in dispute [McCain expresses regret]
AFP ^ | 2009-03-16

Posted on 03/16/2009 3:54:30 PM PDT by rabscuttle385

MEXICO CITY (AFP) — Mexico on Monday said it would place tariffs on nearly 90 US products after Washington canceled a program that allowed some trucks from Mexico to operate in the United States.

There is to be an "increase in customs duty on almost 90 industrial and agricultural products," Economy Minister Gerardo Ruiz Mateos said in a statement.

Ruiz said the increase would represent some 2.4 billion dollars, but did not name the products.

. . . . .

The move drew a sharp rebuke from US Senator John McCain, who said he regretted Mexico's decision and also lashed out at US President Barack Obama and lawmakers for backing "protectionist" policies.

"I deeply regret the action taken by the Mexican government and the harm it may cause to American businesses," said McCain, who lost his bid for the presidency in 2008 to Obama.

"Unfortunately, this is a predictable reaction by the Mexican government to a policy that now puts the United States in clear violation of the North American Free Trade Agreement," he added.

"We must take steps to prevent escalation of further protectionist measures -- actions that only serve to harm American business during these tough economic times when these businesses need a worldwide marketplace to prosper."

(Excerpt) Read more at google.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Foreign Affairs; Mexico
KEYWORDS: 111th; aliens; bho2009; bho44; mccain; mccaintruthfile; mexicantrucks; mexico; nafta; tariffs; tradewars; truckers; trucks
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"I deeply regret the action taken by the Mexican government and the harm it may cause to American businesses," said McCain, who lost his bid for the presidency in 2008 to Obama.

But, of course, no regrets for the amnesty debacle started by former President Bush, Senator Kennedy of Massachusetts, and himself.

1 posted on 03/16/2009 3:54:30 PM PDT by rabscuttle385
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To: stockpirate; ducdriver; ChrisInAR; AvOrdVet; MaggieCarta; indylindy; roamer_1; calcowgirl; ...

The Juan McCain Truth File.

"I have great respect for Al Gore."
—John McCain, October 2, 2008

FR Keywords: mccaintruthfile, mcqueeg, mcbama

Please tag all relevant threads with the aforementioned keywords.

This can be a very high-volume ping list at times.

To join the ping list:
FReepmail rabscuttle385 with the subject line add  mccaintruthfile.
(Stop getting pings by sending the subject line drop mccaintruthfile.)


Republican Commissar’s Warning: By joining this ping list, you may be subjected to the delusional rants and ramblings of McCainiacs, of "moderate" Republicans, of pragmatic conservatives resigned to voting for the lesser of two Democrats, and of countless GOP shills who simply want to meet a new overlord.

2 posted on 03/16/2009 3:55:01 PM PDT by rabscuttle385 ("If this be treason, then make the most of it!" —Patrick Henry)
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To: rabscuttle385

Good. Build the fence and sell them nothing


3 posted on 03/16/2009 3:55:31 PM PDT by pissant (THE Conservative party: www.falconparty.com)
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To: rabscuttle385
"Unfortunately, this is a predictable reaction by the Mexican government to a policy that now puts the United States in clear violation of the North American Free Trade Agreement," he added.

Hee!! Poor renegadebama. I guess his thugs forgot to check the fine print in NAFTA as they steam roll their agenda as quick as they can. I am so concerned for lobama! /sigh

NOT!!!!!

What a total loser. Marxist thug!

4 posted on 03/16/2009 4:02:11 PM PDT by OafOfOffice (We don't see victims. We don't see people we want to exploit. What we see is potential,Rush Limbaugh)
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To: rabscuttle385

They're baaaack
5 posted on 03/16/2009 4:05:14 PM PDT by ari-freedom (Hail to the Dork!)
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To: pissant

LOL guess they figured out that preventing American trucks from traveling in Mexico wouldn’t amount to much of anything since few American truckers are that suicidal.

Taxes on remittances seems like a good retaliatory strike.


6 posted on 03/16/2009 4:05:27 PM PDT by cripplecreek (The poor bastards have us surrounded.)
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To: rabscuttle385
McCain? - Worthless.

There is to be an “increase in customs duty on almost 90 industrial and agricultural products,” Economy Minister Gerardo Ruiz Mateos said in a statement.

LOL!! Fine, just slap a 25% “fee” to any and all money transfers sent by private individuals from America to Mexico.

Quid pro quo.

7 posted on 03/16/2009 4:08:03 PM PDT by bill1952 (Power is an illusion created between those with power - and those without)
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To: rabscuttle385

lo.l. can’t we tax illegal immigrants??


8 posted on 03/16/2009 4:09:06 PM PDT by GeronL (....and I won't let it happen again!)
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To: rabscuttle385; SwinneySwitch; Travis McGee

Here are two enlightening articles (copyright, can’t be posted)

Mexicans weary of drug war
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2009-03-15-mexicofatigue_N.htm

It talks about the mistrust of the Mexican people of the US Military, etc. and that the people are leaning toward the old PRI party for the next election. They say things ran smoother then, whereas Calderone is just causing the violence...in other words, they like it when the cartels run the show. How do we fight that?

Another article says of the violence in Mexico, “”People in the United States need to understand that this does affect our national security. . . . Unless we do something about it, you’re going to see heads being rolled down Main Street like they’re doing in Mexico,”

U.S. military outreach to Mexico likely to upset . . . Mexicans
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/117/story/64001.html


9 posted on 03/16/2009 4:13:08 PM PDT by AuntB (The right to vote in America: Blacks 1870; Women 1920; Native Americans 1925; Foreigners 2008)
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To: rabscuttle385

Unless it is defused it will not end well. Is someone trying to put us into a Great Depression?


10 posted on 03/16/2009 4:18:40 PM PDT by 1010RD (First Do No Harm)
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To: Toddsterpatriot; Mase; expat_panama

Hey, look at all the Teamster jobs we saved!


11 posted on 03/16/2009 4:21:09 PM PDT by 1rudeboy
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To: GeronL

yeah, a tariff on wetbacks.


12 posted on 03/16/2009 4:28:37 PM PDT by fatrat (impeach the HPIC (head-porksucker-in-charge))
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To: 1rudeboy
Hey, look at all the Teamster jobs we saved!

Yep...It'a a start...Maybe at least a couple of these teamsters will buy some American made products and put even more Americans back to work...

You figure those Mexican truck drivers are in line to buy a new 'Chevy'???

13 posted on 03/16/2009 4:30:06 PM PDT by Iscool (I don't understand all that I know...)
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To: 1010RD

One of the biggest mistakes that pushed us into it was when we stifled free trade with other countries. In 1930 Congress passed the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act. President Hoover signed it.

The act was meant to protect us from foreign competition. Tariffs would protect American workers and industries. They would keep us from shipping American jobs abroad. They would protect us from the ravages of globalization.

As soon as we erected tariffs, other countries retaliated. Our tariffs kept their products out. Theirs kept ours out. World trade shrunk like a prune overnight. The act was a disaster.

One year after Smoot Halley unemployment went from 7.8 to 16 percent. Next year it rose to 25 percent.


14 posted on 03/16/2009 4:30:32 PM PDT by ALPAPilot
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To: rabscuttle385

TRADE WAR!!!


15 posted on 03/16/2009 4:31:56 PM PDT by edcoil (Are we there yet?)
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To: cripplecreek
Yeah, because you just know those $150 billion (or is it $180 billion) dollars' worth of goods we ship to Mexico each year just walk across the border, like those illegals coming the other way.
16 posted on 03/16/2009 4:34:01 PM PDT by 1rudeboy
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To: 1rudeboy
"Hey, look at all the Teamster jobs we saved!"

Woohoo we can all practice singing "Look for the Union Label" while we stand in line at the Obama Soup Kitchens!

Praise be our glorious leader!

17 posted on 03/16/2009 4:34:05 PM PDT by Mad Dawgg ("`Eddies,' said Ford, `in the space-time continuum.' `Ah,' nodded Arthur, `is he? Is he?'")
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To: Iscool

These are the same Teamsters who are too feminine to make deliveries to Mexico, right?


18 posted on 03/16/2009 4:34:50 PM PDT by 1rudeboy
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To: Iscool
Yep...It'a a start...Maybe at least a couple of these teamsters will buy some American made products and put even more Americans back to work...

Funny thing about those teamsters. They only make up about 12% of trucks and they're primarily port drivers. That doesn't fit with the global warming style screeching of the globalists so they don't bother with that pesky little truth.
19 posted on 03/16/2009 4:38:15 PM PDT by cripplecreek (The poor bastards have us surrounded.)
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To: rabscuttle385

“We must take steps to prevent escalation of further protectionist measures -”

Translation:

“We must take steps to decrease wage rates for American truckers. What god given right do they have to there pay scale?”


20 posted on 03/16/2009 4:40:33 PM PDT by Shermy ("The whole world has financed the United States, ...they have a reciprocal debt with the planet.")
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To: cripplecreek

UPS drivers are Teamsters (that includes the long-haulers, not just the drivers of those cute little brown vans). The drivers at my steel company were Teamsters, and my company had somewhere around thirteen plants in the United States. I’d like to see some data on what proportion of them are “port drivers” (including the ones who are afraid to drive internationally).


21 posted on 03/16/2009 4:42:03 PM PDT by 1rudeboy
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To: Shermy
“We must take steps to decrease wage rates for American truckers. What god given right do they have to there pay scale?”

You need to get on the same page. American drivers are afraid to pick up loads in Mexico. That means these Mexican drivers aren't even competing with the Teamsters. LOL

22 posted on 03/16/2009 4:44:01 PM PDT by 1rudeboy
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To: ALPAPilot

The effect of Smoot-Halley is way overrated in its effect. The unemployment rise a year later was cause by mostly other multitudes of bad policies. At the time of Smoot something like less than 7% of our economy was foreign trade. This cut it by about half. A 3% drop in our econmy didnt double unemployment. This is FDR propaganda.

What did we import back then? Cars? Oil? Lumber? Steel? Electronics? Crap from China? Food? Nope to any of them.

Smoot is a red herring


23 posted on 03/16/2009 4:44:34 PM PDT by DesertRhino (Dogs earn the title of "man's best friend", Muslims hate dogs,,add that up.)
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To: 1rudeboy

Keep talking. All your doing is proving you don’t know what you’re talking about. There might be a handful of contract drivers for UPS who are teamsters but it’s a tiny minority. My uncle has driven for UPS for 15 years and he’s not in a union.


24 posted on 03/16/2009 4:45:47 PM PDT by cripplecreek (The poor bastards have us surrounded.)
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To: cripplecreek

That’s interesting, because when UPS Teamsters go on strike the entire friggin’ company shuts down.


25 posted on 03/16/2009 4:47:57 PM PDT by 1rudeboy
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To: cripplecreek
Now that I think about it, I don't think you can even get a UPS Teamster driver to cross another Teamster picket line.
26 posted on 03/16/2009 4:51:02 PM PDT by 1rudeboy
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To: DesertRhino

If there’s one thing I’ve learned its that any time someone starts screeching smoot hawley, they either don’t know what they’re talking about or they hope the listener doesn’t.

Obviously total protectionism is really bad but a tariff here and there does not equal protectionism. Reagan did it to great effect.


27 posted on 03/16/2009 4:51:24 PM PDT by cripplecreek (The poor bastards have us surrounded.)
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To: cripplecreek

Reagan is also the grandpappy of NAFTA, which has gotten the Teamsters and their fellow-travelers [pun intended] tied in knots here.


28 posted on 03/16/2009 4:53:28 PM PDT by 1rudeboy
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To: 1rudeboy

Reagan was a true free trader, not a Soros capitalist like yourself.


29 posted on 03/16/2009 4:55:46 PM PDT by cripplecreek (The poor bastards have us surrounded.)
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To: cripplecreek

And you are just a “tiny” man. Teamsters are a “tiny” minority. Trade only fell a “tiny” amount. All this talk and never a single fact or figure to back it up.


30 posted on 03/16/2009 4:57:51 PM PDT by 1rudeboy
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To: cripplecreek
And if you think that is just talk, I looked (out of curiousity). As of 2007, UPS was the largest employer of Teamsters in the United States. Something like 240,000 of them.
31 posted on 03/16/2009 4:59:54 PM PDT by 1rudeboy
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To: 1rudeboy

Sounds like your got yourself all worked up into a lather but don’t worry, I think Zero is on your side in this one.


32 posted on 03/16/2009 5:01:05 PM PDT by cripplecreek (The poor bastards have us surrounded.)
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To: cripplecreek

So your uncle never actually worked for UPS? What did he tell his wife he was doing all that time?


33 posted on 03/16/2009 5:02:03 PM PDT by 1rudeboy
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To: 1rudeboy

Truck drivers or the delivery drivers?


34 posted on 03/16/2009 5:02:43 PM PDT by cripplecreek (The poor bastards have us surrounded.)
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To: cripplecreek
Taxes on remittances seems like a good retaliatory strike.

Heck, why stop at Mexico?

Tax all remittances 10 % going south to fund illegals using our health care system

Billions per month would go along way to help pay for it

35 posted on 03/16/2009 5:03:11 PM PDT by Popman (One useless man is a shame, two is a law firm, and three is a Congress - John Adams)
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To: cripplecreek

UPS employees.


36 posted on 03/16/2009 5:03:47 PM PDT by 1rudeboy
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To: cripplecreek

I agree. I just looked on a site that had the records from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

” Exports were $5.9 billion in 1929, and had declined to $2.9 billion in 1933. This $3 billion decline was roughly 3.8% of our 1929 GDP, which had declined by a 46% over the same period of time. Thus, of the -46% GDP decline, only -3.8% of it was due to a fall in exports. But the gain from import reduction must also be included. (A decline in imports increases GDP). If the import decline is added back to the GDP total (to measure the net trade balance), the “loss” was only $0.2 billion from our GDP — or less than ½ of 1% of the total GDP decline.

Also, notice that the drop Smoot is blamed for, *started* AFTER the crash of 1929. So unless you argue that Smoot caused the crash,,, the argument on Smoot, seems moot!
(sorry, i couldnt resist)

In other words, the document-able “loss” from the Smoot-Hawley Tariff — the “net export” loss — was less than ½ of 1% of our our GDP decline. “

It was a huge part of Roosevelt’s campaign. Somehow, this became a pop culture thing along with “Roosevelt saved us”, with fireside chats,, and “Fear Itself”,,etc.


37 posted on 03/16/2009 5:04:42 PM PDT by DesertRhino (Dogs earn the title of "man's best friend", Muslims hate dogs,,add that up.)
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To: Popman

Agreed.


38 posted on 03/16/2009 5:05:19 PM PDT by cripplecreek (The poor bastards have us surrounded.)
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To: 1rudeboy

I must assume that the Teamsters are aware that hundreds of Mexican trucks have been re-registered in the United States and handle, in one case, hundreds of vegetable shipments between Rio Rico warehouses and California and the Southwest. The Dept. of Transportation apparently has no policy on this, and it is reported that the trucks are “bought” by phoney American buyers, who then sell them back to their Mexican owners.


39 posted on 03/16/2009 5:06:15 PM PDT by Melchior
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To: DesertRhino
I just looked on a site that had the records from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

You mean that you probably looked at some lefty blog post. Why don't you share it with us?

40 posted on 03/16/2009 5:07:51 PM PDT by 1rudeboy
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To: Melchior

If they are aware of it, you’d think they’d be shouting it from the rooftops. Why the silence?


41 posted on 03/16/2009 5:08:59 PM PDT by 1rudeboy
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To: pissant
Build the fence and sell them nothing

Yeah, when the $130 billion we export to them every year is gone it won't hurt any American workers. So bring it on. Let's have a trade war with our second largest trading partner. How could that possibly hurt anyone here?

42 posted on 03/16/2009 5:09:40 PM PDT by Mase (Save me from the people who would save me from myself!)
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To: cripplecreek

And if tariffs are so bad, then why do places like Japan love them so much? We can’t get *anything* imported past their protectionist policies. Man they are dumb in Japan, don’t they know that if they opened their markets to our beef and rice farmers, their domestic beef and rice industries would magically flourish i guess?


43 posted on 03/16/2009 5:09:49 PM PDT by DesertRhino (Dogs earn the title of "man's best friend", Muslims hate dogs,,add that up.)
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To: rabscuttle385

Trade across the border will not change. I believe he issue here is the stopping of a temporary pilot program that allowed some Mexican trucking companies to deliver their loads to the final destination anywhere inside the U.S..

Normally, the Mexican trucks deliver the imported goods to a terminal on the U.S. side of the border and from there a U.S. trucking company picks up the load and makes the delivery inside the U.S.

Many times it’s just a drop and hook, where the U.S. truck drops off an empty trailer and hooks on to a loaded trailer coming out of Mexico.


44 posted on 03/16/2009 5:12:08 PM PDT by topsail
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To: Mase

Now, now . . . you know workers in export industries don’t count. As for the State of Texas? Screw ‘em. Aren’t that many Teamsters down there anyway.


45 posted on 03/16/2009 5:13:39 PM PDT by 1rudeboy
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To: 1rudeboy

Hating unions, ok,,, disliking teamsters,,fine. But thinking your son, daughter, husband or neighbor is somehow a coward because they won’t deliver something into the center of a drug riddled, theft driven, beheading, murderous culture?

And why exactly should they be willing to die to deliver a package? I’ve heard of rain, sleet, and snow, but not Mexicans with AK’s and machetes.


46 posted on 03/16/2009 5:15:09 PM PDT by DesertRhino (Dogs earn the title of "man's best friend", Muslims hate dogs,,add that up.)
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To: DesertRhino

Reagan imposed carefully targeted tariffs on certain Japanese made goods and the Japanese responded by manufacturing here. He saved Harley Davidson and brought new manufacturers.


47 posted on 03/16/2009 5:16:00 PM PDT by cripplecreek (The poor bastards have us surrounded.)
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To: 1rudeboy

Reagan never signed us into a deal that exported American jobs.


48 posted on 03/16/2009 5:16:11 PM PDT by DesertRhino (Dogs earn the title of "man's best friend", Muslims hate dogs,,add that up.)
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To: DesertRhino
And why exactly should they be willing to die to deliver a package?

If you are afraid of delivering a package, then don't. Don't bitch that others can, and do, safely.

49 posted on 03/16/2009 5:17:12 PM PDT by 1rudeboy
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To: 1rudeboy

http://www.bea.gov/
Read it and weep, now, as to what i said, what part do you SPECIFICALLY object to?


50 posted on 03/16/2009 5:18:58 PM PDT by DesertRhino (Dogs earn the title of "man's best friend", Muslims hate dogs,,add that up.)
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