Trump repeats making Mexico pay for wall as he seeks funding
President Donald Trump on Sunday renewed his pledge to make Mexico pay for the construction of a border wall between the US and Mexico, days after threatening to trigger a government shutdown if congressional Republicans don't include funding as they tackle a spending bill due September 30.
"With Mexico being one of the highest crime nations in the world, we must have THE WALL," Trump tweeted, adding that, "Mexico will pay for it through reimbursement/other."
The president did not elaborate on how Mexico would cover the cost. The White House previously has suggested that one possibility is a 20 per cent tax on imports from Mexico.
In a subsequent Twitter post, Trump also said both Mexico and Canada were being "very difficult" in talks to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, which he called the "worst trade deal ever made," and said the US might have to simply terminate it.
Mexico's foreign minister, Luis Videgaray, said August 23 that Nafta talks are continuing and if Trump really wanted to break up the pact, he would have done so already.
The posts were part of a series of early-morning tweets that also praised the disaster response to Hurricane Harvey, promoted a book by a controversial sheriff in Wisconsin and plugged his own upcoming visit to Missouri and a trip he said he wants to make to Texas to view areas affected by the hurricane.
Trump has asked for $1.6 billion to begin border wall construction, but not all congressional Republicans agree about the merits of a fight to spend potentially billions more on a border barrier as they seek to pay for tax cuts. At a rally last week in Phoenix, Trump told supporters, "If we have to close down our government, we're building that wall," and that "one way or the other, we're going to get that wall."
One leading House conservative said Friday that he could support a short-term bill to fund the government after September 30 and delay the fight over wall funding until December.
"I'm willing to do it whenever it makes sense," said Representative Jim Jordan, a founder of the conservative House Freedom Caucus.