Bill Text: TX HCR98 | 2017-2018 | 85th Legislature | Introduced


Bill Title: Urging Congress and the president to reject the imposition of an import tax or border adjustment tax on trade with Mexico.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 4-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2017-04-24 - Left pending in committee [HCR98 Detail]

Download: Texas-2017-HCR98-Introduced.html
  85R15174 KSM-D
 
  By: Blanco H.C.R. No. 98
 
 
 
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
         WHEREAS, The White House has raised the prospect of a
  substantial tax on imports from Mexico, but economists and business
  leaders have warned that such a measure would have a severe negative
  impact; and
         WHEREAS, Although the imposition of tariffs is intended to
  make American companies more competitive, the benefits are both
  limited and outweighed by numerous and substantial risks, according
  to economists across the political spectrum; this is the case
  whether tariffs are imposed directly or through a border-adjusted
  tax that subsidizes exports; and
         WHEREAS, Any border tax would hurt U.S. consumers; tariffs
  are effectively paid by the purchasers of goods, and as imported
  goods became more expensive, so would any domestic goods that are
  reasonable substitutes; in turn, the cost of living would soar,
  affecting lower-income Americans the most, as they spend a higher
  percentage of their income on goods, especially those produced
  abroad; and
         WHEREAS, Costs would also rise for U.S. manufacturers of
  products that incorporate materials made in Mexico and subject to a
  border tax; the enactment of tariffs could cause delays or price
  spikes that spiral through the economy and interrupt complex,
  time-sensitive supply chains; any slowdown could mean layoffs among
  producers and damage to the broader U.S. economy; and
         WHEREAS, Jobs would also be lost because of the inevitable
  decline in the value of the Mexican peso; the loss of purchasing
  power by our trading partner would lead to a drop in U.S. exports,
  thereby putting Americans out of work; this would cause havoc in
  both the Mexican and U.S. economies, according to former U.S.
  Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers, now a Harvard University
  economist, who said that "it would be one of the best things that
  ever happened for Asian and European competitors"; and
         WHEREAS, If the United States imposes a tariff, Mexico will
  no doubt retaliate, resulting in a pernicious trade war; most
  experts believe that this would deliver a significant blow to the
  economy, and Peter Petri, a professor of international finance at
  Brandeis University, has suggested it could take years to rebuild
  supply chains disrupted by such conflict; Simon Johnson, a
  professor of entrepreneurship at MIT's Sloan School of Management,
  has cautioned that the impact would be "much worse than a
  recession," and more on the scale of a full-blown financial crisis;
  Princeton University historian Sean Wilentz has offered the example
  of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff, signed into law by President Herbert
  Hoover in 1930, which sparked a trade war that devastated the global
  economy; and
         WHEREAS, A border tax would be particularly crushing in
  Texas; Mexico is far and away our state's top trading partner, as
  the Texas Association of Business observed in speaking out against
  an import tariff; in 2015, trade between Texas and Mexico amounted
  to over $176.5 billion, representing more than a third of our total
  trade, with a surplus of $8 billion on our side; as of 2014, almost
  400,000 Texas jobs depended on that trade, according to the Wilson
  Center Mexico Institute; some Texas businesses have already
  suffered due to the mere threat of a trade war, which has driven the
  peso to a near all-time low and weakened the purchasing power of
  potential customers from Mexico; the effect has been particularly
  troubling in such border communities as El Paso, where one in every
  four jobs relies on cross-border trade; and
         WHEREAS, In 2015, Texas imported $84 billion from Mexico, and
  with a 20 percent tariff, businesses and consumers would have paid
  $16.8 billion more for the same goods and services; residents
  particularly depend on the availability of agricultural products
  from Mexico, and a border tax would drive up the cost of healthful
  fruits and vegetables; moreover, many large-scale agricultural
  concerns in Mexico are owned by American companies; and
         WHEREAS, Trade has historically been an engine of prosperity,
  benefiting consumers and businesses alike; Mexico is the nation's
  third-largest trading partner, and a tariff or border-adjusted tax
  on imports would drastically suppress commerce, to the tremendous
  detriment of our state and nation; now, therefore, be it
         RESOLVED, That the 85th Legislature of the State of Texas
  hereby respectfully urge the United States Congress and the United
  States president to reject the imposition of an import tax or border
  adjustment tax on trade with Mexico; and, be it further
         RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official
  copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to
  the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of
  Representatives of the United States Congress, and to all the
  members of the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that
  this resolution be entered in the Congressional Record as a
  memorial to the Congress of the United States of America.
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