BORDER/TRADE DEALS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/WALL: “US taxpayers will foot the bill for a border wall, White House strategic communications director Mercedes Schlapp acknowledged in an interview on Wednesday [1-9-19]…The White House has previously acknowledged that the construction of a border wall will need to be funded by government dollars, but have insisted — as Schlapp did on Wednesday — that financial benefits from the revised, but still unratified, US-Mexico-Canada trade deal will ultimately cover the cost of the wall. Speaking from the Rose Garden last week, President Donald Trump claimed that eventual economic benefits from a trade deal with Mexico and Canada meant he was keeping his campaign promise…But the US-Mexico-Canada trade deal has not yet been approved by Congress and even the perceived benefits of its passage would not amount to a Mexican — direct or indirect — payment of the border wall. Whatever economic benefits the trade deal delivers would be reflected in financial benefits to companies and higher wages for some individuals, not in any immediate financial boon to the US government.”
–Jeremy Diamond, “Taxpayers will pay for wall, White House aide acknowledges,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, January 9, 2019 10:34 pm