Former President Trump reacted to Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s threat to the Biden Administration over the southern border.
Trump called out the “lack of respect” foreign leaders have for President Joe Biden on Sunday after Obrador demanded that the United States send Mexico $20 billion a year in taxpayer money to Latin America and the Caribbean to address so-called “root causes” of illegal immigration.
The 2024 presidential frontrunner insisted that he wouldn’t give the Mexican president so much as “ten cents.”
“He said he wants $10 billion essentially just to talk, $10 billion to talk, and that's come out since, and no, that wouldn't happen with me, with the wall,” Trump told Fox News host Brian Kilmeade when asked if it was reasonable for Obrador to dictate American policy.
During an interview with 60 Minutes, the foreign president stated that Mexico will not shut down its border until the Biden Administration changes its policy on Cuba and Venezuela.
When Trump was in office, foreign leaders did not dare pull such a bold move— according to the former president.
“It's very simple: lack of respect for the president. They would never say that to me. They would never say before we even talk. They want $10 billion a year, Mexico just asked for $10 billion a year. They would never ask it. I wouldn't give them 10 cents," Trump said.
Obrador insisted that he controls a significant portion of the southern border that has been abandoned by the Biden Administration. He acknowledged that his relationship with Trump was majority productive other than the border wall being a sore subject for the two leaders.
In January, Obrador demanded that Biden halt the surge of illegal immigrants, lift existing sanctions on Cuba and Venezuela, grant legal status to Mexican illegal immigrants in the U.S., as well as send the countries $20 billion annually.
He insisted that the massive influx of illegal immigrants coming into the U.S. will not stop until the Biden Administration meets its list of demands.
The Mexican president claimed that Biden commanded him to “control the flow of migration”— which he did— resulting in illegal entries dropping by 50 percent in January.
However, those numbers spiked again in February.
In December alone, nearly 250,000 immigrants illegally crossed the southern border.
Trump warned that if there isn’t a leadership change in the upcoming November election, then “we're not going to have a country anymore.”
“The most important day in the history of our country is going to be November 5th. Our country is going bad, and it's going to be changed on November 5th, and if it's not changed, we're not going to have a country anymore,” Trump added.