President Trump on Thursday revived his claim that Mexico will pay for his long-promised border wall, saying the new trade agreement to replace NAFTA will save the US so much money that its southern neighbor would effectively be footing the bill.
“I often stated, ‘One way or the other, Mexico is going to pay for the Wall.’ This has never changed,” the president said in a tweet.
“Our new deal with Mexico (and Canada), the USMCA, is so much better than the old, very costly & anti-USA NAFTA deal, that just by the money we save, MEXICO IS PAYING FOR THE WALL!”
Trump this week told House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York in a contentious Oval Office meeting that he would be “proud” to shut down the federal government if Congress doesn’t give him the $5 billion he wants for the wall.
Democrats have offered no more than $1.3 billion for his project.
The president raised the idea that some money for the wall could come from the newly renegotiated trade agreement — an idea that Pelosi flatly rejected.
Trump recently signed the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and former Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto.
On Tuesday, he threatened to circumvent Congress and order the US military to build the wall “if Democrats do not give us the votes to secure our Country.”
This week, the Washington Post fact checker unveiled a new rank — the Bottomless Pinocchio — that it said was based in part on the president’s repeated claims that Mexico would pay for the wall.
Mexico has repeatedly rejected Trump’s demand that it pay for the wall.
On Thursday, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said he did not discuss the wall when he spoke with Trump on Wednesday to talk about the issue of migration.
“We have not discussed that issue, in any conversation … It was a respectful and friendly conversation,” Lopez Obrador told Reuters.
This story was originally published by NY Post
via USAHint.com
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