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THE ASTORIAN • SATURDAY, JUNE 1, 2019
Businesses warn Trump of consequences of new Mexican tariffs
By JILL COLVIN and
COLLEEN LONG
Associated Press
WASHINGTON
—
Despite pushback from U.S.
business, Mexico and Cap-
itol Hill, President Donald
Trump doubled down Fri-
day on his threat to slap a 5%
tariff on Mexican imports
unless America’s southern
neighbor cracks down on
Central American migrants
trying to cross the U.S.
border.
U.S. manufacturers said
the tariff, set to take effect
June 10, would have devas-
tating consequences on them
and American consumers.
U.S. stocks tumbled on Wall
Street in response to Trump’s
planned action.
“Imposing tariffs on
goods from Mexico is exactly
the wrong move,” said Neil
Bradley, executive vice pres-
ident of the U.S. Chamber of
Commerce, which is explor-
ing legal action in response
to the tariffs. “These tar-
iffs will be paid by Ameri-
can families and businesses
without doing a thing to
solve the very real problems
at the border. Instead, Con-
gress and the president need
to work together to address
the serious problems at the
border.”
Mexican
President
Andrés Manuel López Obra-
dor dispatched his foreign
secretary to Washington to
try to negotiate a solution.
He said social problems are
not solved with coercive
measures, but also seemed
convinced that Trump just
needed to be informed
about all the steps Mex-
ico has taken to slow illegal
migration.
Mexico has stepped
up raids on migrant cara-
vans traveling through the
southern states of Chiapas
and Oaxaca this year. It
has deported thousands of
AP Photo/Christian Torres
Trucks wait to cross the border with the U.S. in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.
migrants and frustrated thou-
sands more who wait end-
lessly for permits that would
allow them to travel legally
through Mexico.
Administration offi cials
told reporters Thursday eve-
ning that Mexico could pre-
vent the tariffs from kicking
in by securing its southern
border with Guatemala,
cracking down on criminal
smuggling
organizations,
and entering into a “safe
third country agreement”
that would make it diffi cult
for those who enter Mexico
from other countries to claim
asylum in the U.S.
“We fully believe they
have the ability to stop peo-
ple coming in from their
southern border and if
they’re able to do that, these
tariffs will either not go into
place or will be removed
after they go into place,” said
acting White House chief of
staff Mick Mulvaney.
Trump said the percentage
will gradually increase — up
to 25% — until the migration
problem is remedied.
“Mexico has taken advan-
tage of the United States for
decades,” Trump said in a
tweet. “Because of the Dems,
our Immigration Laws are
BAD. Mexico makes a FOR-
TUNE from the U.S., have
for decades, they can easily
fi x this problem. Time for
them to fi nally do what must
be done!”
Trump’s decision showed
the administration going to
new lengths, and looking for
new levers, to pressure Mex-
ico to take action — even
if those risk upending other
policy priorities, like the
United States-Mexico-Can-
Senators seek to help with rural timber losses
By KEITH RIDLER
Associated Press
BOISE, Idaho — U.S.
senators from Idaho and Ore-
gon on Thursday touted legis-
lation they introduced to cre-
ate an endowment to replace
revenue lost by rural counties
due to declines in timber cut-
ting on federal lands.
Republicans Jim Risch
and Mike Crapo of Idaho
and Democrat Ron Wyden of
Oregon gathered at the Idaho
Statehouse to talk about
the Forest Management for
Rural Stability Act intro-
duced last week.
The senators say the leg-
islation would create an
endowment to give at least
$300 million annually to
rural counties in 40 states for
schools, roads, law enforce-
ment and other essential
services.
Rural counties, particu-
larly in the Pacifi c North-
west, have suffered econom-
ically as commercial timber
cutting on federal land fell
to about a fourth of what it
was in the late 1980s. Many
states in the U.S. West con-
tain large amounts of fed-
eral land. Rural communities
receive a share of the money
from timber harvest on that
land.
But federal land is not
subject to property taxes by
counties. So when timber
harvest declined, rural coun-
ties not only lost timber rev-
enue, but they couldn’t make
that up with property taxes.
“The federal government
owes these counties an obli-
gation to solve that fi scal
problem,” Crapo told about
150 people that included
offi cials from both states.
“Simply put, long-term
quality of life in rural Amer-
ica requires a new long-
term roadmap,” Wyden said.
“That is what we are laying
out here today.”
The legislation calls for
Congress to charter a non-
profi t corporation to manage
the endowment fund inde-
pendent from the U.S. gov-
ernment. Money generated
from interest and invest-
ments from the endowment
would fi nance payments to
SEVENDAY FORECAST FOR ASTORIA
TODAY
SUNDAY
MONDAY
counties.
The endowment fund
would be created with a one-
time appropriation by Con-
gress of $7 billion. More
money would be added with
timber harvest on federal
lands, U.S. Fish and Wild-
life Service money generated
from timber sales and graz-
ing leases at National Wild-
life Refuges, and money
from Bureau of Land Man-
agement lands in Oregon and
California.
Ultimately, the senators
said, the fund would increase
and pay out more than $300
million annually.
The plan includes an
emergency
clause
that
requires any shortfall to the
counties to be made up from
the U.S. Treasury. The sena-
tors said all bills include an
emergency fund, and their
calculations in the legislation
aimed to avoid shortfalls.
“An emergency or not,
this is a moral obligation to
the United States of Amer-
ica,” Risch said. “Forget the
emergency, this has got to be
paid.”
TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
ada Agreement, a trade deal
that is the cornerstone of
Trump’s legislative agenda
and seen as benefi cial to his
reelection effort.
Keeping the economy
rolling also is critical to
Trump’s reelection, and
business was not happy with
the president’s planned tariff
on Mexican imports.
“These proposed tariffs
would have devastating con-
sequences on manufacturers
in America and on American
consumers,” said Jay Tim-
mons, chief executive offi cer
of the National Association
of Manufacturers. “We have
taken our concerns to the
highest levels of the admin-
istration and strongly urge
them to consider carefully
the impact of this action on
working families across this
country.”
The stock market’s tum-
ble on Friday all but guar-
antees that May will be the
fi rst monthly loss for the
market in 2019. The news
hit automakers particularly
hard. Many of them import
vehicles into the U.S. from
Mexico.
“The auto sector — and
the 10 million jobs it sup-
ports — relies upon the
North American supply
chain and cross border com-
merce to remain globally
competitive,” said the Auto
Alliance, which represents
automakers that built 70%
of all cars and light trucks
sold in U.S. “Any barrier to
the fl ow of commerce across
the U.S.-Mexico border will
have a cascading effect —
harming U.S. consumers,
threatening American jobs
and investment and curtail-
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THURSDAY
FRIDAY
REGIONAL FORECAST
Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
Seattle
63 52
63 51
62 50
Partial sunshine Partial sunshine Partly sunny
61 50
Partly sunny
61 50
60 49
61 49
Cloudy
Showers
possible
More clouds
than sun
Aberdeen
Olympia
65/51
76/56
Wenatchee
Tacoma
Moses
Lake
UNDER THE SKY
TODAY'S TIDES
Astoria through Thursday
Tonight’s Sky: Before sunrise,
the Summer Triangle is nearly
overhead.
Astoria / Port Docks
Temperatures
High/low ................................ 59/53
Normal high/low .................. 62/48
Record high .................. 79 in 1924
Record low .................... 38 in 1943
Precipitation
Thursday ................................. Trace
Month to date ........................ 1.66”
Normal month to date ......... 3.22”
Year to date .......................... 22.01”
Normal year to date ........... 33.26”
Forecasts and graphics provided by
AccuWeather, Inc. ©2019
Time
12:05 a.m. 8.1 7:04 a.m. -0.1
1:13 p.m. 6.6 6:46 p.m. 2.3
Cape Disappointment
12:47 p.m. 6.2 6:13 a.m. -0.3
none
5:57 p.m. 2.2
Source: Jim Todd, OMSI
Hammond
SUN AND MOON
Sunrise today .................. 5:28 a.m.
Sunset tonight ............... 8:59 p.m.
Moonrise today .............. 4:47 a.m.
Moonset today .............. 7:12 p.m.
New
First
Full
Last
1:00 p.m.
none
Warrenton
12:00 a.m. 8.6 6:48 a.m.
1:08 p.m. 7.0 6:30 p.m.
0.0
2.4
Knappa
12:42 a.m. 8.4 8:05 a.m. -0.1
1:50 p.m. 6.9 7:47 p.m. 2.0
Depoe Bay
June 3 June 9 June 17 June 25
6.8 6:35 a.m. -0.2
6:19 p.m. 2.3
12:05 p.m. 6.4 5:44 a.m. -0.4
11:28 p.m. 8.4 5:24 p.m. 2.3
City
Atlanta
Boston
Chicago
Dallas
Denver
Honolulu
Houston
Los Angeles
Miami
New York City
Phoenix
San Francisco
Wash., DC
Today
Hi/Lo/W
Sun.
Hi/Lo/W
87/68/s
70/57/s
72/52/t
89/72/pc
74/51/pc
89/75/pc
93/74/pc
70/57/pc
92/79/pc
79/62/s
99/72/s
71/55/s
86/69/s
89/69/s
68/56/pc
67/47/s
89/74/pc
75/52/t
89/74/pc
93/74/pc
70/58/pc
92/79/t
77/56/t
98/71/s
69/55/s
83/59/t
Weather (W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy,
c-cloudy, sh-showers, t-thunderstorms,
r-rain, sf-snow fl urries, sn-snow, i-ice.
82/54
Kennewick Walla Walla
88/64 Lewiston
95/61
88/60
Hermiston
The Dalles 94/63
Enterprise
Pendleton 77/51
87/60
88/61
La Grande
80/53
80/53
NATIONAL CITIES
High (ft.) Time Low (ft.)
Pullman
91/58
75/53
Salem
85/60
Yakima 93/58
Longview
63/52 Portland
80/56
Spokane
90/61
77/52
77/50
Astoria
ALMANAC
ing economic progress.”
Some of Trump’s fellow
Republicans in Congress
opposed the tariff. Repub-
lican senators have made
almost weekly treks to the
White House to nudge the
president off his trade wars,
and this latest move sent
them scrambling again to
signal their displeasure in
hopes of reversing Trump’s
actions.
Texas Republican Sen.
John Cornyn supports the
president’s
commitment
to securing the border, an
aide said, but he opposes
the across-the-board tariff,
“which will disproportion-
ately hurt Texas.”
Key trade senators also
spoke up. Pennsylvania
GOP Sen. Pat Toomey, who
has questioned the admin-
istration’s ability to invoke
national security threats for
some other imports, called
the tariffs a “blanket tax
increase” on items Ameri-
cans purchases from Mexico
and “the wrong remedy.”
The tariff threat comes at
a peculiar time, given how
hard the administration has
been pushing for passage of
the USMCA, which would
update the North American
Free Trade Agreement.
Sen. Chuck Grassley,
R-Iowa, a usual Trump ally
and the chairman of the
Senate Finance Commit-
tee, slammed the president’s
action, saying it was a “mis-
use of presidential tariff
authority” that would burden
American consumers and
“seriously jeopardize pas-
sage of USMCA.”
Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa,
said the livelihoods of farm-
ers and producers from her
state are at risk and so is the
USMCA.
“If the president goes
through with this, I’m afraid
progress to get this trade
agreement across the fi nish
line will be stifl ed,” she said.
Corvallis
81/52
Albany
80/52
John Day
Eugene
Bend
79/52
81/51
80/53
Ontario
86/58
Caldwell
Burns
83/56
78/50
Medford
87/58
Klamath Falls
78/48
City
Baker City
Brookings
Ilwaco
Newberg
Newport
Today
Hi/Lo/W
81/49/pc
70/54/s
62/53/pc
79/51/s
61/49/pc
Sun.
Hi/Lo/W
83/51/t
66/53/pc
61/52/pc
80/47/pc
60/49/pc
City
North Bend
Roseburg
Seaside
Springfi eld
Vancouver
Today
Hi/Lo/W
64/52/pc
84/58/s
63/51/pc
80/52/s
78/53/s
Sun.
Hi/Lo/W
62/50/pc
84/52/pc
63/51/pc
81/47/pc
79/50/pc