John McCain Issues A Stern Warning For Donald Trump

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In a parallel universe, we may still know John McCain as a relatively hard core conservative. In this life, however, he’s become a defender of fairly progressive causes and a harsh critic of our Republican president. In an interview with CNN’s David Axelrod on Saturday, Arizona Senator John McCain voiced grave concerns for the future of his state under a Trump presidency. Specifically, he criticized Trump’s exclusionary, “America First” trade policies, which will likely do more harm to the U.S. economy than good. “If you cut off that trade across border between Arizona and Sinora, Mexico, I'm telling you, you would have a serious and deep recession,” McCain explained to Axelrod, who previously served as a senior advisor to President Obama.

By now, everyone knows about Trump’s ambitious, illogical wall across the U.S.-Mexican border. But constituents may be less aware of the fact that Trump aims to enact a 20 percent tax on Mexican goods imported to the United States in an attempt to fund his wall (which many experts say will cost upwards of $21 billion and do little to curb illegal immigration). Trump may say he’s all about creating jobs, but McCain argues his proposed trade policies would be counterintuitive to his most popular campaign promises. As he tells Axelrod,

“For example, in my state, the finance minister of Mexico told me that Mexico does more business with Arizona than it does with Spain. There's a couple hundred thousand jobs that are directly—not indirectly—related to our trade with Mexico. If we continue with this poisoning of the environment between the United States and Mexico, they're going to elect a far-left president.”

But it’s not just border states who should be worried about Trump’s trade agenda. A high tariff on Mexican goods will result in higher prices or shortages, which will likely affect the poorest of Americans who rely on cheap products to survive. By McCain’s estimation, hundreds of thousands of jobs will hang in the balance as will the American economy. Trump should consider himself warned.