US president still fixated on ‘emergency’, border wall
Frustrated with Democrats, US President Donald Trump has hinted once again at declaring a national emergency to build his proposed Mexico border wall after he’s done with the State of the Union address on Tuesday, in which he will offer a “visionary” and “aspirational” road ahead for the country.
There is also speculation that the president will use the address to announce the date of his next summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, expected to take place in Vietnam.
There’s a buzz that he may talk about the drawdown of US troops in Syria and Afghanistan, while trade talks with China as well as Russia could be the other issues he might talk about.
“You’ll hear the State of the Union (address) and then you’ll see what happens right after the State of the Union,” the US president told reporters on Friday when asked if intends to declare a “national emergency”.
Trump has been talking of invoking his executive powers to find the money for the wall - $5.7 billion - that has been blocked by Congressional Democrats, even as talks continue to break the stalemate with a deadline of February 15 when funding for the reopened government agencies runs out, shutting them down again.
But he has received pushback on the national emergency option even from Republicans, who have warned him they will pass a resolution disapproving it.
Immigration will be one of five major areas that Trump will cover in his second State of the Union address, a senior administration official said while previewing the speech on Friday.
Another topic will be trade as Trump will update the Congress on talks with China and ask for ratifying the US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement. Other issues will be about rebuilding the US with infrastructure investments, healthcare, military and diplo- macy. And that could take him to his policies about Afghanistan, Syria and North Korea.
“Together we can break decades of political stalemate,” Trump is expected to say, according to an excerpt read out by the administration official. “We can bridge old divisions, heal old wounds, build new coalitions, forge new solutions and unlock the extraordinary promise of America’s future.”