Despite President Trump’s repeated promises that Mexico would pay for a wall along the United States’ southern border, the president recognized early on that following through on that promise would be difficult, and urged Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto to stop publicly opposing Trump’s statements, according to a report.
“You cannot say that to the press,” Trump told Pena Nieto in a Jan. 27 call, after the Mexican president reaffirmed that Mexico would not pay for a border wall. “The press is going to go with that, and I cannot live with that. You cannot say that to the press because I cannot negotiate under those circumstances.”
Days after his inauguration, Trump placed calls to a number of world leaders, including Pena Nieto and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.
According to reports, Trump’s conversation with Turnbull was especially contentious.
The White House released brief readouts of the conversations after they occurred, and some details were leaked to the press, but transcripts of the conversations were marked classified by retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, the chief of staff on the National Security Council.
On Thursday, the Washington Post published the transcripts of Trump’s phone calls with Pena Nieto and Turnbull.
In Trump’s call with Pena Nieto, Trump tried to persuade his Mexican counterpart to stop talking about how the border wall would be funded.
“On the wall, you and I both have a political problem,” Trump said. “My people stand up and say, ‘Mexico will pay for the wall,’ and your people probably say something in a similar but slightly different language. But the fact is we are both in a little bit of a political bind because I have to have Mexico pay for the wall. I have to. I have been talking about it for a two-year period.”
Trump tried to work out a deal on what their responses would be when asked who would front the money for the multi-billion dollar structure.
“We should both say, ‘We will work it out.’ It will work out in a formula somehow,” Trump said. “As opposed to you saying, ‘We will not pay,’ and me saying, ‘We will not pay.’
“Because you and I are both at a point now where we are both saying we are not to pay for the wall,” he continued. “From a political standpoint, that is what we will say. We cannot say anymore because if you are going to say that Mexico is not going to pay for the wall, then I do not want to meet with you guys anymore because I cannot live like that.”
The president also conceded that the border wall is the “least important” issue the two talked about.
“Believe it or not, this is the least important thing that we are talking about,” Trump said. “But politically this might be the most important to talk about.”
But Pena Nieto said Trump’s campaign promise had placed a “very big mark on our back, Mr. President, regarding who pays for the wall.”
Eventually, though, he conceded the two should stop talking about the wall altogether.
“This is what I suggest, Mr. President — let us stop talking about the wall,” Pena Nieto said. “I have recognized the right of any government to protect its borders as it deems necessary and convenient. But my position has been and will continue to be very firm saying that Mexico cannot pay for that wall.”
Trump and Pena Nieto also discussed the U.S trade deficit with Mexico, as well as drug trafficking in the United States, and the president praised his relationship with Pena Nieto.
“You and I will always be friends,” he said, according to the Post.
Trump’s conversation with Turnbull, however, was more aggressive. Toward the end of their conversation, Trump conceded that phone calls he had with other world leaders — including Russian President Vladimir Putin — were more pleasant than his discussion with Turnbull.
“I have had it. I have been making these calls all day and this is the most unpleasant call all day,” Trump told Turnbull as the two wrapped up their conversation. “Putin was a pleasant call. This is ridiculous.”
According to the transcript, Trump and Turnbull had a heated exchange over an agreement made by former President Barack Obama for the U.S. to accept refugees from Australian detention centers.
“I hate taking these people,” Trump told Turnbull. “I guarantee you they are bad. That is why they are in prison right now. They are not going to be wonderful people who go on to work for the local milk people.”
Turnbull tried to tell the president the refugees had not been accused of crimes, but were denied entry into Australia due to the country’s policy discouraging human smuggling, and attempted to tap into Trump’s experience in deal-making.
“There is nothing more important in business or politics than a deal is a deal,” Turnbull said. “You can certainly say that it was not a deal that you would have done, but you are going to stick with it.”
Trump, according to the Post, became angrier, and said one of refugees let into the U.S. could “become the Boston bomber in five years.”
“I think it is a horrible deal, a disgusting deal that I would have never made,” Trump said. “As far as I am concerned, that is enough, Malcolm. I have had it.”
