By Matt Roy, Independent Newsmedia

While the president weighs imposing trade tariffs against Mexico, some political and business leaders have signaled their opposition to the move.

“I don’t think tariffs are the solution to address this. It’s a tax on Arizonans. It’s a tax on Arizona’s hard-working families,” Ariz. Sen. Martha McSally said during a conference call earlier this week.

Ms. McSally clarified her position during a town hall conference call she hosted with Sen. Lindsey Graham, which according to the junior Arizona senator’s website, was attended by an estimated 11,000 Arizonans on Tuesday night.

Though she agrees with President Donald Trump’s concerns over growing numbers of asylum seekers making their way through Mexico to the U.S. southern border, Ms. McSally said tariffs would mainly hurt Arizona businesses and families.

“I really hope we can get a breakthrough that has Mexico do more and Democrats do more, because ultimately those tariffs will be passed on to Arizona families and that’s really a tax on hard-working Arizona families and that’s not going to get Mexico to do more,” Ms. McSally said. “The President certainly has his approach and we’re in a co-equal branch of the government and we have candid conversations on these issues and I share his goals that we get USMCA passed and we solve the border crisis and I hope we can have a breakthrough here that doesn’t include these tariffs going into effect.”

Glenn Hamer, Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry President and CEO, also shared concerns over the threatened tariffs in a statement published Wednesday at his group’s website, azchamber.com.

“The migrant crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border is very real, but its solution lies in continued cooperation and coordination between our two countries. Hitting the nation’s largest trading partner with tariffs and saddling the U.S. economy with the equivalent of a $17 billion tax increase — over $450 million in Arizona alone — won’t solve the migrant crisis and it will only hurt job creators and consumers in both countries,” a portion of Mr. Hamer’s statement read.

Like Sen. McSally, the chamber leader emphasized the importance of trade cooperation with Arizona’s southern neighbor.

“Mexico is a friend and ally. Our economic relationship has been defined by tariff-free trade for decades. Let’s keep it that way,” he added.

At the national level, business groups echo fears tariffs will hurt American workers and businesses.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce last week published a study detailing a state-by-state analysis of the potential impact of new tariffs on trade between the two countries.

“Imposing tariffs on goods from Mexico is exactly the wrong move. These tariffs will be paid by American families and businesses without doing a thing to solve the very real problems at the border, stated Neil Bradley, executive vice president and chief policy officer at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce at the group’s website, www.uschamber.com. “Instead, Congress and the president need to work together to address the serious problems at the border.”

Overall, the U.S. imported more than $346.5 billion in goods from Mexico in 2018.

Based on those numbers, a 5% tariff would amount to more than $17.3 billion hit, while the maximum threatened penalty of 25% would cost American consumers an estimated $86.6 billion annually, according to the chamber’s report.

Unsurprisingly, three of the six U.S. states likely to be most affected by the tariff are those sharing a border with Mexico — Texas, California and Arizona.

In the number one spot, Texas, which imported more than $107 billion in goods from Mexico in 2018, stands to pay what the chamber referred to as a “$5.35 billion tax” if the president follows through on his threat and the Congress fails to block the effort.

California, which imported $44 billion in Mexican goods in 2018, stands to lose $2.2 billion; while Arizona, in the number six spot with $9 billion in imports, would pay $452.1 million if the president’s 5% tariff is imposed.

Under the maximum 25% tariff, Arizonans would see the cost of Mexican trade goods jump by $2.26 billion annually, according to the chamber’s report.

U.S. and Mexican officials continued to meet Thursday in an effort to stave off Mr. Trump’s tariffs as the chorus of opposition coming from many in his own party, including even dependable Trump loyalists.

Among others who have questioned the tariffs plan this were Texas Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn, Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, according to numerous media reports.

While Republicans hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate, to block the tariffs with a veto-proof legislation, at least 20 GOP senators would need to join all Democrats and Independents in support of such a measure.

IN CONTEXT

The following is an excerpt from the June 4, 2019 town hall conference call with Sen. Martha McSally and Sen. Lindsey Graham and 11,000 Arizona voters.

Brian in Glendale asked: “My question to you is: On the record today, are you going to support Donald Trump if he goes ahead with tariffs and imposes tariffs on Mexico if they’re unable to reach an agreement? Are you going to support him in those tariffs or are you going to go against him?”

Sen. Martha McSally answered: “I share the President’s frustration with what’s going on at the border and I share his goal of stopping this insanity and, as I said earlier, Mexico needs to do more. We need to crank up the pressure on Mexico for them to secure their southern border and not be allowing the passage of these buses and these trucks and others,” Ms. McSally said. “But you know what, Mexico’s also Arizona’s number one trading partner. We have lots of jobs — over 200,000 jobs in Arizona — that are dependent on this cross-border commerce that happens and we’ve got this U.S.-Mexico trade NAFTA 2.0 that we were hoping to be able to ratify that’s going to provide more jobs here for us in Arizona and, in general, I don’t think tariffs are the solution to address this. It’s a tax on Arizonans. It’s a tax on Arizona’s hard-working families in order to address a border crisis that, Mexico needs to do more and the Democrats in Congress need to do more. So, we’re communicating with the White House, we’re working with our colleagues up here, there’s meetings are ongoing and I really hope we can get a breakthrough that has Mexico do more and Democrats do more, because ultimately those tariffs will be passed on to Arizona families and that’s really a tax on hard-working Arizona families and that’s not going to get Mexico to do more. The President certainly has his approach and we’re in a co-equal branch of the government and we have candid conversations on these issues and I share his goals that we get USMCA passed and we solve the border crisis and I hope we can have a breakthrough here that doesn’t include these tariffs going into effect.”