Bloomberg: Trump's Mexican Tariffs Are 'Reckless,' Could Trigger Recession

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has called President Donald Trump's latest trade move a “radical and disturbing development” in a Friday column.  

Trump announced a 5-percent tariff on all goods coming from Mexico Thursday, demanding the country curb illegal immigration into the U.S.

The administration's policy will harm businesses north and south of the border, and the message it sends to Canada, China the European Union and other U.S. trading partners is “wholly counterproductive," Bloomberg said. 

While he agrees the problems at the border are real, Bloomberg said: “a better approach would be to work with Mexico to strengthen its southern border."

Rather than cut off aid to Central America as Trump intends to do, the U.S. should provide more aid, he said. 

"Trump’s failure to understand that trade is a matter of mutual advantage, combined with his contempt for international rules and norms, has threatened the global economic order that the U.S. designed and built.”

Gambling With The Country's Prosperity 

This latest decision suggests that Trump’s willingness to gamble with the country’s prosperity, and that of one-time friends and allies, is greater than previously thought, Bloomberg said.

Things seem bleak, with a possible recession ahead, he wrote. 

“The prospects for global trade and output were already uncertain. Now, Trump is risking not just a slow and steady reduction in investment thanks to heightened anxiety over trade, but a sudden collapse in confidence that could roil financial markets and bring on an outright recession.”

Related Links: 

9 US-Traded Mexico-Based Stocks To Keep An Eye On

Pelosi Leaves Impeachment Out Of Remarks After Mueller Address

Photo by the New York MTA via Wikimedia.