Speaking about his immigration overhaul after a swearing-in ceremony for the new Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, Trump stated that it should be bipartisan, because, as he explained, the "Republicans don't really have the votes to get it done in any other way".
Supporting his position, the US president specified that his speech would cover his efforts to lower trade barriers around the world for the country's exports.
"We have to have a reciprocal trade. It's not a one-way deal anymore," he said.
READ MORE: 'We Need to Make It Harder for Illegal Immigrants to Get Jobs' – US Scholar
Due to heated debates over the immigration reform proposed by Trump, the US government was forced to go shutdown on January 20 after a failed attempt by the Republicans to pass a measure to close a gap in federal funding in time. The stopgap motion was blocked by the Democrats, who wanted to include immigration measures in the spending bill.
The Trump administration blamed the Democratic Party for the derailment of the measure, claiming Democrats blocked it over an argument about the immigration reform which was a cornerstone of Trump’s electoral program. The Democrats are seeking to protect the Obama-era DACA program aimed to defend the so-called "dreamers" — migrants, who arrived in the US as children, whilst Trump’s immigration reform was trying to tweak this program in order to prevent uncontrolled immigration.
After the 3-day shutdown the parties managed to pass a legislation to reopen government through February 8. The Trump later came out with a legislative framework, which he claims "represents a compromise that members of both parties can support."
