Trump talked tersely with leaders of Mexico, Australia

Transcripts of Donald Trump’s conversations with the leaders of Mexico and Australia in January offer new details on how the US president parried with the leaders over the politics of the border wall and refugee policy.

The White House said Thursday that the release of the transcripts is a disservice to Trump.

“I’m not going to comment on leaked calls,” White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters said. “It’s a national security matter when phone call transcripts are being leaked out. It prevents the president from being able to do what he does best, negotiate with foreign leaders.”

In his conversation with Pena Nieto, Trump urges the Mexican president to stop saying his country won’t pay for the wall along the southern US border, and the two agree to stop talking about the subject in public.

In the Turnbull conversation, the two leaders discuss a 2016 refugee deal between their nations, under which the Obama administration agreed to accept asylum seekers who had been trying to get to Australia. Turnbull insists to Trump that the deal is still on. Trump complains that the deal makes him look bad.

Trump acknowledges that talk about building a wall at the US-Mexico border is more about image management than economic policy. “Believe it or not, this is the least important thing that we are talking about, but politically this might be the most important talk about,” he said. “But in terms of dollars - or pesos - it is the least important thing.”