Since Donald Trump began his government shutdown in exchange for a five billion dollar border wall funding package, CNN’s Jim Acosta has been on point in calling Trump out for his many lies and shifting statements. On Friday, Acosta posted a fact-check from PolitiFact that destroyed Trump’s claim that his new USMCA trade deal would pay for the border wall.
No longer looking pay a big check, Trump says Mexico will pay for wall under new trade deal. That’s false. https://t.co/B1YuzNRT98
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) January 11, 2019
Trump has made this claim about funding for the border wall many times, although he never mentioned it during his 2016 presidential campaign. Back then, Mexico would be forced to make a lump sum payment for the wall and that would happen within three days of Trump’s first term in office.
Mexico is paying for the Wall through the new USMCA Trade Deal. 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!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2019
According to PolitiFact:
‘First, the renegotiated North American Free Trade Agreement is not in effect yet. Trump rebranded the updated NAFTA as the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), but it still needs congressional approval.
‘And the deal, literally, does not include any language saying Mexico will pay the United States for the wall.
‘In addition, U.S.-Mexico trade has been duty free for more than a decade, and the renegotiated trade deal does not add new tariffs on goods coming from Mexico to the United States, said Lori Wallach, director at Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch.’
Trump’s promises are not only falling flat, they’re just made-up excuses to justify shutting down the government and hurting not only the 800,000 federal workers performing unpaid labor, but the many Americans who will be affected by the loss of the services those workers provide as well as the loss of the money those workers put back into the economy.
Twitter immediately responded to Acosta’s fact-check. Read some of their comments below:
Featured image screenshot via YouTube
