President Donald Trump's fixation with building a wall along the entire southern border is the impetus for his new trade war with Mexico, Bloomberg reported Friday.
During the 2016 campaign, Trump repeatedly promised that Mexico would pay for the wall. At the time, Mexico denied they would pay, a position they have maintained since Trump was sworn in.
"President Donald Trump is determined to impose the 5 percent tariff he’s threatened against Mexican imports and sees it as a way to help fund construction of the border wall he promised during his campaign," Bloomberg's sources confided.
"Trump plans to portray the move as making Mexico pay for the wall -- part of his signature 2016 pledge," a Bloomberg source said.
However, the bill for his tariffs falls on Americans, so it would not be an accurate statement for Trump to claim it was Mexico paying.
"While Trump has repeatedly argued that the countries he penalizes bear the cost of tariffs, it’s U.S. importers that pay the duties and some of that gets passed to consumers in the form of higher prices," Bloomberg reminded.