Senator Doug Jones (D-AL) is continuing to be a vocal critic of President Donald Trump, this time slamming the president’s threat to impose tariffs on Mexico if the country does not stem the flow of illegal aliens into the United States.
During the same CNN “New Day” interview in which Jones expressed his openness to impeaching Trump, Alabama’s junior senator was directly asked about why he is “so opposed” to the potential tariffs on Mexico.
“Well, because they’re a tax,” Jones, who has actually spoken in opposition to the 2017 Trump tax cuts, said matter of factly. “This could be the largest tax increase that Americans have seen in two or three generations.”
Jones has pledged to back whomever the Democrats nominate against Trump in 2020, no matter how radical that individual is. Additionally, Jones has announced his support of former Vice President Joe Biden in the primary. Biden has already promised to repeal the Trump tax cuts as the “first thing” he would do if elected, and far left Democrats running for president have proudly exclaimed that they want to raise taxes to new highs.
Continuing his denunciation of the Trump tariff threat to CNN on Wednesday, Jones remarked, “[The potential Mexico tariff] is purely a tax on the American people.”
“Mexico’s not paying for it anymore than China’s paying for it,” he continued. “Alabama, in particular, will be hurt a lot by Mexican tariffs. We’ve already been hurt by the Chinese retaliatory tariffs. … It will be a huge burden on the Alabama taxpayer, the American taxpayer.”
“Mexico is not going to pay for these tariffs. They don’t do that,” Jones said. “The American taxpayer pays for these.”
He emphasized that Trump following through on Mexico tariffs would have “devastating effects.”
Watch:
Democratic @SenDougJones says some of his Republican counterparts are “at their wits’ end” with President Trump’s Mexico tariff threat.
“This could be the largest tax increase that Americans have seen in two or three generations.” https://t.co/cWJyUgWWmy pic.twitter.com/SYFSLJdujb
— New Day (@NewDay) June 5, 2019
Jones has previously called Trump’s China trade policy “another administration disaster.”
Alabama’s Democratic senator has also claimed that the situation at the United States’ border with Mexico is not an “emergency.”
Sean Ross is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn