News america, katty kay. Former treasury official and morning joe economic analyst Steve Rattner. And in washington, columnist and associate editor for the Washington Post, David Ignatius. Nbc news capitol hill correspondent kasie hunt. Lets stop here and say what an unbelievable week. Oh, my gosh. Theres so much coming at us. One of the more memorable tweet said i follow news for a living. Thats my job, yet, im overwhelmed by the onslaught of information comt ing at me. If im feeling that way what about americans that dont follow it every day . David ignatius wrote in the Washington Post this morning that the first week of the Trump Presidency showed he is more determined to overturn academic trade and National Security order than even his critics feared. Yesterday, he showed us that. Just that. Katty kay, obviously, some real concerns from not only britain, but europe and across the world because donald trump is actually doing what donald trump said he was going to do. Yeah. There is an element of fear and confusion about what is going to replace all of this. If he is going to rip up the world order that is underpinned the west since the world war ii what comes next and is politics like science and nature, in a vacuum and will somebody else step in again . That is what you heard teresa may saying. I thought it was a nuance speech. It sympathized what is happening in britain and america while staying, we are still here and we are still responsible for leading the post world war. She called out nato and the United Nations and mentioned estonia and she is getting flak at home for doing that but saying you could get rid all of these allowance without risking the security of the west. Here is the incoming that we were poring throughhere. After reports surfaced on wednday that mexico president enrique pena. He said the following. Late in the day, the mexico president confirmed via twitter that the meeting was off. Speaking to republican conference in philadelphia, President Trump said it was a mutual decision and assured lawmakers about managing the walls multibillion dollar price tag. Ive said many times that the American People will not pay for the wall. And ive made that clear to the government of mexico. We are working on a tax reform bill that will reduce our trade deficits, increase american exports and generate revenue that will pay for the wall if we decide to go that route. Sean spicer spoke on Ford Air Force one. You tax that money 20 of imports a practice that 160 other countries do right now, our countrys policy is to tax exports and let imports flow freely which is ridiculous but by doing that way make 10 million a year and pay for that wall. If you think a border tax from countries like mexico we have a huge trade deficit does that is going to provide the funding. Word of a proposed 20 border tax on mexican imports sent shock waves across the political war and Reince Priebus walked the statement back and telling nbcs Peter Alexander it was only one idea in a buffet of options. But then last night, alexander talked directly to the president at the white house who said of a 20 border tax, quote, we are going to tax people coming in. Look. We cannot lose ourompaes to mexico or any other place and then we have them ke the product and just send it across our border free. We are going to put up substantial tax on those countries, okay . And that is why. By the way, they are coming they are all coming back, okay . Without that, they dont come back so easily. Lets stop here and get reaction. Because this is a great place to just stop. Yep. And explain. That the position that donald trump came to yesterday was a position he originally opposed two weeks ago and that actually is, steve, 20 border adjusted tax. The House Republicans have been pushing this for sometime because it would Fund Corporate tax rates and also fund a cut in personal tax rates. Its not a radical idea. Its not this punitive tax that donald trump seemed to suggest he was going to levy yesterday. This is actually a tax that a lot of companies dont like and a lot of economists dont like but it is not a radical idea but that is something lost in translation, as well as the fact that at the end of the day, this tax will be paid by american consumers. Well, youve asked the question and you also answered it but ill answer it again. Which question exactly did i ask . Theres so many. There wasnt a question. Maybe just an answer. This is what is called a conversation. So, look. Point one. Everybody agrees the Corporate Tax system in this country is screwed up and that it favors actually imports over exports and everybody is on board to change it. This idea is one after number to reform the Corporate Tax code and not necessarily a bad idea. Economists are divided by it but not aimed at mexico but aimed basically at redressing the disincentives companies have now to produce things here rather than could i ask a question this time . Why is it that other countries do this . As sean said, 150, 160 other countries do this but we dont tax imports. Its not as much we dont tax imports. Other countries rely on a value added tax and that has a lot of the same effects and that actually is what creates, in a way, this incentive for companies to export rather than to import and moving us in that direction. Here is the key point. The key point it is a replacement for the tax code and not some additional tax we put on and not aimed at mexico in particular. Threvenuis what w need to make up for the revenue we are losing from the Corporate Tax cut. There is no real additional revenue to the treasury to pay for the wall and the consumers of america will end up paying for the wall. Wall street journal says it will raise about a trillion dollars off of the 50 billion dollar trade deficit with mexico. It would easily, as wall street journal said this morning raise the 10 billion for the wall without actually cutting into the republican plans to use the additional money to cut Corporate Tax rates. Im not sure the math works exactly that way. I think that the money you raise from this tax would, in fact, be used to we have a 35 Corporate Tax rate in this country, one of the highest in the world. We want to reduce that. Im not sure you agree with that . Im not sure how much revenue is left but its not money coming from mexico. It is money being paid by our companies and therefore by us. Willie, yes, it would be paid by consumers who buy mexican products and the people selling the mexican imports would get the 20 tax rate and pass it on to the government . I think that is an important distinction for people watching. Its not a 20 tariff. In other words prices would go up. Assuming the Companies Hit pass the it on to the consumer. Whether people think the dollar will go up or not. That makes it more implicated. We are getting into the weeds here because also it will have the effect of strengthening the dollar and lessen the impact for the importeders in the long run it will suppress the mexican economy which is already on a down swing at the moment, potentially. What to we know about Immigration Rights across the border . They rise. President trumps tax on imports sounds familiar to a reform pushed by House Republicans and an idea known as border adjustment and trop the Corporate Tax rate from 25 to 30 and exempting exported good froms United States and impofg a 20 tax on goods imported to the United States. President trump said any time i hear border adjustment i dont love it because it usually means we are adjust into a bad deal and what happens. Kevin brady, the chairman of the house ways and Means Committee defended it against criticism that would pass the cost on to consumers. We are proposing an equal 20 tax rates on imports to the United States as well as the products here in the United States. So for the first time they would be taxed equally. Leveling the Playing Field and competing competition is good for the consumers. I am convinced this World Economy recognizes changes. We will strengthen our main american exports and our dollar will appreciate and imports buying them at a lower price and i think it balances out in a major way. There are some republicans not on board. John cornyn and others. Ill read Lindsey Grahams tweet. Worthit. This is how he summarized. Any policy proposal that drives up tequila or margarita is a bigtime bad idea. Moocho sad. End quote from lindy graham. David ignatius, while this is part of the House Republican plan, Senate Republicans arent thrilled by it. Probably have trouble passing the senate. But im sure you are more interested in the messages that actions like yesterday sent. Not only to mexico but the rest of the world . Joe, if i just sort of step back a bit. What i see as a result of yesterdays actions and really this whole first week of the Trump Presidency is a planned visit to washington by mexican president who does not want to trade with donald trump and trying very hard to be relatively moderate in his country, under a lot of pressure. And that plan getting blown up as a result of what seems to have been trumps increasing discomfort with the idea of Going Forward with kind of delayed process of payment for the wall. In his interview with david mura, he seemed to be ready to accept a formula that would delay pam and thpayment and the tweet to force the mexican president to cancel the visit. I think its difficult for the u. S. And mexico unnecessary crisis and first Foreign Policy rupture of the Trump Administration and doesnt seem necessary. David, the time line of it. I havent heard a lot of people talking about this. The white house had worked hard the entire previous day to keep the meeting going and had been working around the clock trying to get the mexican president to agree to the meeting. He did. And as soon as he did, that is when the president sent out those tweets, blowing up the meeting. So it soeems like the sabotage was intentional and actually went against what his own staff was trying to put together. Joe, you put your finger on the thing that has got me scratching my head. We have seen in this first week a president with a very ambitious agenda, moving faster than i can ever remember a president in his first week. But creating so many small flaps and storms that those become the story and detracting in this ambitious change agenda and its puzzling. The mexico example is a perfect one and i think another clear example is the question of cia interrogation where the president has new people and the president after listening to jim mattis, im not so sure about torture. All of a sudden, he is back in the thick of that very divisive painful issue. Then last night, david, you know, we have talked about this a good bit and i have tried the past several days to get clarification on what is torture, where does waterboarding fit. Obviously, we consider that to be torture. But part of that exercise was i knew the president was speaking in an exact way, that he was talking about torture when what he meant to say was enhanced interrogation techniques. He tried to clear it up last night but that doesnt really matter because theresa may comes to the United States. He is talking about ftore furor which is illegal and nobody is going to allow that to happen. But she comes over and has to clear that up because of his inaccident language and makes her position far more tenuous, as well as republicans on the hill and americans standing in the world. A brief last thought on this, joe. Never want to say that President Trump should take lessons from anyone but if he were to take lessons from a Single Person this week, i would say its theresa may. She managed to express clearly what a conservative change agenda like trumps sounds like when its carefully stated. Her line about russia we need to engage but beware i thought was perfectly tied and perfectly stated. She is is someone i hope the President Trump will form a bond with because she can help him. Last night, mika, the president tried to clarify some of the remarks on torture. Youve been watching him do exactly what you were talking about which is a little bit inexact roundabout way that talked about the topic that causes this concern upheaval. When they are shooting and chopping off the heads of our people and other people, when they are chopping off the heads of people because they happen to be a christian in the middle east and isis is doing things never heard of since medieval times, would i feel strong about waterboarding . As far as im concerned we have to fight fire with fire. With that being said, im going with general mattis, im going with my secretary because i think pompeo is going to be phenomenal and im going to go with what they say, but i have spoken as recently as 24 hours ago with people at the highest level of intelligence and i asked them the question. Does it work . Does torture work . And the answer was yes, absolutely. Waterboarding used to be used because they had is really wasnt torture. It was the one step slightly below torture. Thats why it was legal. Torture is real torture. Fingernail. Im sure its not pleasant but waterboarding was just short of torture. When, you know, all of a sudden, they made it torture. So here is the story. Look. I spoke with people the other day who are in there world that we are talking about,hey had, absolutely, it works, absolutely. Now, general mattis said that he doesnt intend to use it. Im with him all the way. Do i believe it works . Yes, i do. Do you have any even a doubt it works . None. Neither do i. I watch the people on television, oh, donald trump is in favor of torture. Look. We have people that knocked down the World Trade Center and all over the world, they go into a club and machine everybody down. And then they we are not allowed to waterboard . Its so it seems so foolish and so naive, but this is what we have to put up with. Willie, if youre scoring at home, he tosses out the red meat, waterboarding, good thing, torture, good thing. Walks it back. But im with james mattis. Im with general mattis. Not going to do it. Later on, he says im going to do what is legal so he is not going to do it. Tosses out red meat, again. They say it works and we should do it. Hannity agrees. Walks it back. But mattis, quote, im with him all the way. Not going to do it. But he tosses out the red meat again. I can tell. You look at that and look at all of the transcripts this past week and he has said in his own unique way he is siding with james mattis and he is not going to push for waterboarding. He says it. And, yet, he tosses out the red meat to his supporters which causes problems for theresa may and the rest of the world. As i watch that, what i see is someone keeping the tough guy cred intact from the primary. The gut. Listen. These are the bad guys chopping off head and we pour a little water on their face . Please, we can do that but ill defer to general mattis who knows more about these things than i do. I think in the end it gives him ae an out if we dont use enhanced interrogation or waterboarding he can put that off mattis and keep his it allows him to say you say youre for torture. No, no. I said im going to do everything that is legal and im with james mattis all the way, right . But he still tosses the red meat out there. As willie said, he gets sort of this street cred with the people who supported him but it causes a hell of a lot of problems for theresa may and other leaders. This is the single biggest problem that theresa may is facing today back in the uk in terms of her visit here is what donald trump has been saying during the course of this week about torture and it is forcing her into a decision saying we would not support the American People so he is forcing a wedge between himself we think. Its concerning, we think. We think. We also have to wonder is he saying some of this in order to shore up james mattis who could not have been happy during the course of this week to apparently had himself contradicted this early on by his principal . It remains just to be careful here. Except for the fact every time he brings up james mattis name, he says im going to follow him and defer to him, et cetera, et cetera. Then he cites other experts that tell him it contradicts what james mattis say. I think youre right, joe. One hand red meat to the base and not use torture because he will. Reporter james mattis as his shield. I think we should say what kind of reaction and consequence this approach will have. We have never seen it before. Kasie hunt, amid all this, he spoke at the republican conference. How did that go and tell us about it. Well, this question of torture, for example, is one that i think very neatly encapsulates challenges for trump right now. They dont understand this is something he is talking about and its a unique example because normally, you know, Republican Leaders come up to microphones and they are asked to explain whatever tweet it is that donald trump has offered up that morning. They get pretty frustrated with it and try to spend a lot of time talking around it. In the case of torture that is not how it was handled. Take a look at how mckconnell ad ryan so definitive on this yesterday. I think the director of the cia has made it clear he is going to follow the