Gonzales on whether Trump’s Mexico tariff will hurt Texas: ‘It may’ but I ‘support the president’

Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) said he supports President Trump’s approach to tariffs on Mexico, even though he acknowledged the tax on imported goods will likely hurt Texans if it takes effect.

In an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Gonzales was asked whether the 30 percent tariff that the Trump administration recently announced on Mexico, Texas’s largest trading partner, would hurt his constituents.

“It may, but I do support the president in this. I think for too long, Mexico has gotten away with, you know, allowed to do anything,” Gonzales said on CNN.

But the border-district congressman said he’s hopeful a deal will come together by Aug. 1, the new deadline that President Trump unveiled in his letters to numerous countries about when they should expect “reciprocal” tariffs to take effect.

“I’m very focused on the Aug. 1 date. What that means is President Trump has given us a couple weeks to try to come up with a solution, and I’ve seen Mexico … change, from months ago, basically being allowed to do whatever they want to … all of the sudden, they’re coming to the table. They’re negotiating more. President Trump has mentioned this. They’re moving in the right direction. We absolutely have to do more,” Gonzales said.

“But yes, if these tariffs come into place, it hurts everyone,” he continued.

After Trump unveiled 30 percent tariffs on Mexico and the European Union, leaders of both trading partners indicated an interest in negotiating with Trump ahead of the Aug. 1 deadline.