Donald TrumpSunday, 29 July 2018 ()
US President Donald Trump threatened a shutdown of the Federal government today if his political opponents oppose his immigration policies.Trump tweeted: “I would be willing to ‘shut down’ government if the Democrats do not give us the votes for Border Security, which includes the Wall! Must get rid of Lottery, Catch & Release etc. and finally go to system of Immigration based on MERIT! We need great people coming into our Country!”
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Building a border wall with Mexico was a key pledge in Trump’s Presidential campaign, where he led rallies with chants of “build that wall”.
Trump has asked for $25bn (£19bn) to build the wall.
Despite Republicans controlling both the House of Representatives and the Senate, divisions within the party have made passing legislation difficult.
Standoffs over spending levels and immigration led to a three-day government shutdown, mostly over a weekend, in January and an hours-long shutdown in February.
The House in June rejected an immigration bill favoured by conservative Republicans.
*Read more*: Car nations mull meeting without US to discuss threat of tariffs
Congress must agree on a spending measure to fund the government by a 30 September deadline.
Meanwhile, leading car exporting nations are reportedly planning to meet in the absence of the US to discuss their response to President Donald Trump's tariff threat on car imports.
Representatives from the EU, Canada, Japan, South Korea and Mexico are preparing to meet without Trump in Geneva on 31 July to co-ordinate a response to threats of US tariffs.