Trump Doubles Down on Claim Mexico Paying for Border Wall Through Trade Deal

14:15 GMT, 2 January 2019

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - US President Donald Trump on Wednesday reiterated his claim that Mexico will pay for the border wall amid the current shutdown of the federal government over the allocation of US taxpayer funds to build it.

Sputnik

"Mexico is paying for the Wall through the new USMCA Trade Deal," Trump said in a Twitter message, in reference to the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.

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Trump also said in his statement that, "Much of the Wall has already been fully renovated or built. We have done a lot of work. $5.6 Billion Dollars that House has approved is very little in comparison to the benefits of National Security. Quick payback!"

Trump is expected to meet with the top Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate later on Wednesday to discuss border security and the current shutdown.

The mentioned partial shutdown, which started on December 22, was reasoned by Trump demand to allocate more than $5 billion designated for the construction of a US-Mexico border wall. Democratic lawmakers and some Republicans have refused to meet the demand, and many have noted that the president previously promised that Mexico would pay for the wall.

The Mexican government has repeatedly said it would not pay for the wall, which was a central promise of Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.

In August 2018 Donald Trump announced that the construction has already started.