Trump Urged by Business, Farm Groups to Drop Mexico Tariff Plan

(Bloomberg) -- More than 100 business and agriculture groups are urging President Donald Trump to hold off on imposing tariffs on Mexico next week.

The groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, made their case in a joint statement Friday as the administration threatened to impose tariffs Monday while Trump said he saw a “good chance” for a deal to avoid them.

Adopting a 5% tariff would jeopardize passage of a trade deal between the U.S., Canada and Mexico, known as the USMCA, which still needs to be passed by lawmakers in each country to take effect, the groups said.

“Imposing unilateral tariffs on Mexico jeopardizes a successful bipartisan vote on USMCA and approval of the agreement,” according to the statement. “Tariffs on Mexican imports would harm U.S. consumers, workers, farmers and businesses of all sizes across all sectors, making us less competitive and undermining efforts to negotiate strong trade deals in the future.”

The statement illustrated the deep unpopularity of Trump’s planned tariff with business groups that typically support GOP priorities. Business leaders have raised concern the tariffs could damage the economy.

U.S. oil companies also are among those lobbying against the potential tariffs, while Ford Motor Co.'s president has said the tariffs would ``have a significant impact on the industry, ourselves included'' -- particularly if they rise as high as 25%, as Trump has threatened.

Trump threatened the tariffs to spur Mexico’s government to curb the flow of migrants through its country and into the U.S.

The statement was made by groups including the American Farm Bureau Federation, soybean and corn growers’ groups, pork producers, a group representing major technology companies, the National Retail Federation and several municipal and state-level chambers of commerce.

To contact the reporter on this story: Josh Wingrove in Washington at jwingrove4@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alex Wayne at awayne3@bloomberg.net, Justin Blum, Joshua Gallu

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