US President Donald Trump answers a question during a joint press conference with Finnish President Sauli Niinistö at the White House in Washington, DC. (JIM WATSON/AFP)
Washington - 29 August 2017: Donald Trump suggested Monday he could soon begin the process of terminating NAFTA and insisted Mexico will pay for a wall on America's southern US border.
Dialing up the rhetoric against America's southern neighbor, Trump said Mexico was "being difficult" in talks to rework the decades-old US-Mexico-Canada free trade deal and further action may be needed.
"NAFTA is one of the worst trade deals ever signed at any time anywhere in the world, and I can understand why Mexico is being difficult, because why wouldn't they be? They've had it their way," Trump said.
"I believe that you will probably have to at least start the termination process before a fair deal can be arrived at," he added, previewing hardball negotiating tactics to come.
Trump also doubled down on his insistence that "one way or another, Mexico will pay for the wall," a key campaign pledge the president is struggling to finance.
"It may be through reimbursement," he said. "We may fund it through the United States, but ultimately Mexico will pay for the wall."
Trump is struggling to convince Congress to stump up the money needed to pay for the controversial project, and has threatened to shut down the government if they do not.
Mexico has repeatedly said it will not pay for the wall.
Trump said the construction was needed because "Mexico has a tremendous crime problem, tremendous."
"Tremendous drugs are pouring into the United States at levels that nobody has ever seen before," he added.
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