Speaker 1: I should like to congratulate you and having done a
Speaker 1: fantastic job on behalf of the people of the United States.
Speaker 1: And it's an honor to have worked with you. And
Speaker 1: I don't know exactly what your timing is, but stick around.
Speaker 1: Let's do this deal. Trumps in London. We're not going
Speaker 1: to talk about the stupid high school gossip crap about
Speaker 1: who said something mean about who just I can't believe
Speaker 1: the media falls for that. Anyway, there is some pretty
Speaker 1: important stuff happening. I'm I'm concerned about taking on two
Speaker 1: different countries with trade as the weapon. Deborah J. Saunders
Speaker 1: is the white House, a white House correspondent for the
Speaker 1: Las Vegas Review Journal. They have no white Horse correspondents
Speaker 1: at the Review Journal as far as I know. Debora
Speaker 1: joins us, Now, how are you the white horse correspondent's
Speaker 1: busy at the track today? I'm working in these new
Speaker 1: protein bars, Debora, and they really hang on your teeth,
Speaker 1: why in your cheeks? And I'm showing white house becomes
Speaker 1: white horse very quickly, so listen. Obviously, Donald J is
Speaker 1: embracing tariffs as a weapon. I've got the Chinese trade negotiation,
Speaker 1: as I prefer to call it, which is necessary and important,
Speaker 1: but I'm a little surprised to see him unleashing the
Speaker 1: same threat on Mexico. In fact, your recent article little
Speaker 1: enthusiasm found for Trump's planning to impose tariffs on Mexico.
Speaker 1: What's the story, Well, there is little enthusiasm. So my
Speaker 1: theory as as we speak now just sort of based
Speaker 1: on the way things usually work here is Trump came,
Speaker 1: he's wanted to close the border. He didn't because it
Speaker 1: was the consequences were too big. He comes up with
Speaker 1: these ideas that he wants to use to get people
Speaker 1: to bend to his will. So closing the border he
Speaker 1: can't do. So he thinks about, oh, I'm gonna do
Speaker 1: a tariffs, and aids inside the White House try to
Speaker 1: talk him out of it, and it works, and it works,
Speaker 1: and then one day's his Nope, you're not talking to
Speaker 1: me out of it. I'm going to do it. And
Speaker 1: then uh, he's done that, and now it's supposed to
Speaker 1: start June ten, and now you have a new group
Speaker 1: of people telling him, know, this is really a bad idea.
Speaker 1: So we know that the Foreign Minister of Mexico is
Speaker 1: going to be meeting with Secretary of State Mike Pompey tomorrow,
Speaker 1: and the question is are they going to work out
Speaker 1: something that makes it look like boast both sides can
Speaker 1: save face? Uh, and basically the charists go away, or
Speaker 1: are we going to go forward as Trump's suggested could
Speaker 1: happen when he was speaking at this press conference this morning,
Speaker 1: and really have a two front trade war that could really,
Speaker 1: you know, probably the US economy. I was just talking
Speaker 1: to an economist you said, excided could bring us into
Speaker 1: a recession if he got up to with Mexico. Well, listen,
Speaker 1: before we get too far down the road of whether
Speaker 1: tariffs are an appropriate lever, what is Trump asking the
Speaker 1: Mexicans to do? He doesn't say, he won't say what
Speaker 1: he wants them to well exactly, but in other words,
Speaker 1: there's no I want you to reduce the number of
Speaker 1: people crossing the order by there's no there's no criteria
Speaker 1: that there's no set of criteria that have been released,
Speaker 1: So we don't know exactly what it is. Well, and
Speaker 1: if you don't know, nobody does. I mean, well, Donald, Jane,
Speaker 1: Mike Pompeo might know, but you're a White House correspondent.
Speaker 1: They've sent out a letter that when they when they
Speaker 1: announced this, they said, we don't want to have we
Speaker 1: want to just sort of decide based on what we're seeing.
Speaker 1: I mean that was in that was in the announcement,
Speaker 1: so that there is no uh, they're not asking for
Speaker 1: anything specific. They're just trying to squeeze Mexico to give
Speaker 1: to staunch the flow of immigrants from Central America. Well,
Speaker 1: I get that, but can this do this? Yeah, that's
Speaker 1: a It's a serious problem. There's no doubt about that.
Speaker 1: Or I think it's no no doubt for most people now,
Speaker 1: and it's not a manufactured crisis. It's a real crisis,
Speaker 1: and Mexico has got to help with us. Is So,
Speaker 1: is Trump just feel like because the battle with China,
Speaker 1: that's a serious battle of heavyweights. But he's got a
Speaker 1: lot of people on his side. Even Chuck Schumer's saying,
Speaker 1: you know, stay stronghold the course on Mexico. I don't
Speaker 1: see anybody on Trump's side. Um, for the greater issues, certainly,
Speaker 1: you mean, but for the tariff's hair off the tariff
Speaker 1: as a weapon. But does Trump just think we're so
Speaker 1: much bigger than Mexico that he can just, you know,
Speaker 1: laterally bend them to his will. Yeah, but again, I
Speaker 1: mean I also think there have been times a way
Speaker 1: of seeing him sort of talk big about the results
Speaker 1: he's going to get, and you don't really see much.
Speaker 1: But there's a bit, there's a nice ceremony and people
Speaker 1: shake hands and they all feel good. The question is
Speaker 1: how tough is he going to be about getting concessions
Speaker 1: from them. Leaving the goals vague allows you to get
Speaker 1: out at any time so that you can make it
Speaker 1: so no one can meet them, and and it and
Speaker 1: it makes it harder for Mexico to UM to really
Speaker 1: know for sure what it is supposed to do. I mean,
Speaker 1: we do know that they have done things to UM
Speaker 1: to stage the flow of of immigrants from Central America,
Speaker 1: but there's only so much they can do. Debra J. Saunders,
Speaker 1: Whitehouse correspondent for the Las Vegas Review Journal. Well, one
Speaker 1: thing is clear, Deborah, I mean, it's got to be
Speaker 1: at the southern end of Mexico that the action takes place.
Speaker 1: Just not letting the Central Americans in the whole keep
Speaker 1: them from coming into the US. Thing North Korea and
Speaker 1: and East Germany and prisons keep people in that's that's
Speaker 1: not really a legitimate thing. For a state to do. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't know if I agree. There's not that much
Speaker 1: they can do if they attack the southern border, which
Speaker 1: is a much smaller border than our border with Mexico.
Speaker 1: I think they could do a lot more to stop
Speaker 1: people from getting into their own country. Okay, But um,
Speaker 1: I guess we're asking them to do what we won't
Speaker 1: do ourselves. Uh. And and I believe that that's an
Speaker 1: interesting point right now, right there. And And also, I mean,
Speaker 1: we do know that Mexico has agreed to let people
Speaker 1: stay there while they were trying to get asylum. I mean,
Speaker 1: we know that the concessions that have been made. So
Speaker 1: that's a very good point you make. So Trump is
Speaker 1: supposed to say to Mexico, Hey, you gotta get control
Speaker 1: of your southern border. We've been sneaking people into your
Speaker 1: country for decades. Do Yeah, what are you high? You know?
Speaker 1: That's funny. I thought that was kind of a I
Speaker 1: wasn't sure what you meant, ever, But the more I
Speaker 1: think about it, the more ironic it becomes. I'm looking,
Speaker 1: I'm looking at the border with the Guatemala and Belize.
Speaker 1: As you know, does anybody fling from Belize or is
Speaker 1: it just too pleasant. I haven't heard of Belizians. It's
Speaker 1: not considered part of the Northern Triangle countries that are
Speaker 1: Why not they get drummed out for something I perhaps,
Speaker 1: perhaps perhaps are happy and believe I've never been to
Speaker 1: belieze I, but I'm sure it's in fine place. Will
Speaker 1: stipulate the Belizians are happy. Um, so, yeah, you've got
Speaker 1: to control your border because people are coming through the country,
Speaker 1: or we'll put tariff signing. Well, well, we'll see how
Speaker 1: it goes. Listen, I tell you this, and I've got
Speaker 1: to voice this for Trump fans. Nothing has been done,
Speaker 1: nothing but lies, hypocrisy, shot, lip service, and the rest
Speaker 1: of it on immigration. And there are a hell of
Speaker 1: a lot of people in the United States who would
Speaker 1: prefer a somewhat haphazard threatening of tariffs and then pulling
Speaker 1: it back and then going finding Plan B as opposed
Speaker 1: to what I think. And I'm certainly not accusing you
Speaker 1: of this, but the mainstream media trying to make Trump
Speaker 1: a joke for perhaps making missteps, but he's trying to
Speaker 1: do something at least. Yeah, I mean, it's in my mind,
Speaker 1: it's too bad that when when Republicans control both the
Speaker 1: House in the Senate that they didn't work on on
Speaker 1: the on the asylum. Yeah, no, kidding, take away that advantage, right,
Speaker 1: that this is gonna be the big mistake for the
Speaker 1: Trump first term. Um, just as people thought it was
Speaker 1: a big mistake for Obama not to do something about
Speaker 1: the Dream Act. And I think people are going to
Speaker 1: be looking at this insane. You had a chance to
Speaker 1: do something serious, but you thought you thought that you
Speaker 1: could just I think something should be done and things
Speaker 1: would happen, and you didn't understand how much work it
Speaker 1: is to get things through Washington. And now I just
Speaker 1: I don't know what's going to happen next. It's possible
Speaker 1: that we go further. The thing is that one of
Speaker 1: the reasons that the U. S. Economy is doing really well,
Speaker 1: I believe are the Trump tax cuts right, and they
Speaker 1: brought certainty for companies that had an understanding of the
Speaker 1: fact that they could keep more of their money and
Speaker 1: they had a good idea of how things would work. Um.
Speaker 1: And when you when you now make them think that
Speaker 1: they're not sure how they're going to handle their supply
Speaker 1: chains and what they're going to be able to get,
Speaker 1: you know what goods they'll be able to get from
Speaker 1: different places. That adds an uncertainty that I don't think
Speaker 1: is good for the economy. And so there are a
Speaker 1: number of people the tax Foundation is an example that
Speaker 1: think that this just takes away all the benefits from
Speaker 1: from from from you know, between China Mexico for sure.
Speaker 1: But but this takes away the benefits of the Tax
Speaker 1: Cuts and Jobs Act. Debor J. Saunders, White House correspondent
Speaker 1: for the Las Vegas Review Journal. Debora, thank Q as
Speaker 1: always great to talk to you. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1: Well done. So yeah, I could, I could easily see that,
Speaker 1: especially as we're in the final crunch time of only
Speaker 1: five and twenty days till the election. Um, those who
Speaker 1: would like to see the Trump administration uh, you know
Speaker 1: reelected are saying, oh, for God's sake, the one thing
Speaker 1: you can't do is mess up the economy. So they're concerned.
Speaker 1: We shall see. Jack the chihuahua, a popular pet name
Speaker 1: for the state Mexico. Is it going to cost more
Speaker 1: now because of the tariffs the Chihuahua. I have this
Speaker 1: because listen, the mainstream media that hates Trump is making
Speaker 1: a big deal over you know how it could really
Speaker 1: screw up the economy and it could be a headwin
Speaker 1: we don't need. But this is according to see an
Speaker 1: end business. If President Donald trump'sose tariffs on Mexican products
Speaker 1: go through, Chippotle burritos could get a little more expensive
Speaker 1: then their paragraph two, and then paragraph three and on
Speaker 1: their in paragraph four. Uh, this is the Chipotle chief
Speaker 1: finance officer said, if the tariffs become permanent, which is
Speaker 1: never going to happen, that's not that that The point
Speaker 1: is that anyway, if they did, Jack, brace yourselves. Chipotle
Speaker 1: and I quote could also consider passing on these costs
Speaker 1: through a modest price increase, such as about a nickel
Speaker 1: on a burrito. Wow. Um so sense, friends, you can't
Speaker 1: even consider yourself in the world of journalism if you
Speaker 1: write stories about and if they became permanent, that's not
Speaker 1: even on the table. That's just not even a part
Speaker 1: of the conversation. Were even talking about that, And even
Speaker 1: if it did, it's still just five cents on my
Speaker 1: burrito nickel. I need a burrito right now out that's
Speaker 1: my supporting Mexico or the United States. If I'm supporting
Speaker 1: the United States right if I continue to buy Mexican products,
Speaker 1: at the higher price. I don't know. I'm confused. The
Speaker 1: long and short of it is, I'm going to eat
Speaker 1: a burrito farm Strong and Getty