What Mr. Trump Said“When — during the campaign, I would say, “Mexico is going to pay for it.” Obviously, I never said this and I never meant they’re going to write out a check. They are paying for it with the incredible deal we made, called the United States, Mexico, and Canada USMCA deal.”— in remarks to reporters on ThursdayFalse. Mr. Trump is rewriting the premise of his central campaign promise, a pledge that he has repeated hundreds of times and has said would be “so easy” to fulfill. Though he is often vague about how Mexico would foot the bill, Mr. Trump has offered occasional specifics, including compelling Mexico to make a one-time payment of $5 billion to $10 billion. Before he officially declared his candidacy, Mr. Trump proposed to “deduct costs from Mexican foreign aid” in an April 2015 Twitter post.

Source: New York Times January 11, 2019 17:15 UTC