Trump cancels Davos trip due to US govt shutdown over border wall issue

US President Donald Trump on Thursday cancelled his trip to the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) at Davos in Switzerland due to the ongoing partial shutdown of the government over his demand for the funding of a US-Mexico border wall. Trump is scheduled to attend the five-day Davos Summit in Switzerland, which will begin from January 21. "I am respectfully cancelling my very important trip to Davos, Switzerland for the World Economic Forum," the US president tweeted.

Trump has asked for USD 5.6 billion from the Congress to construct a wall along the US-Mexico border, which he said is crucial to stop the flow of illegal immigrants and smuggling of drugs into the country. The Democrats who support border security measures, argue that constructing a wall is not the best use of taxpayers’ money.

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Earlier, Trump told reporters at the White House before leaving for a visit to the southern border in Texas that he will skip the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) at Davos in Switzerland if the ongoing partial shutdown of the government continues.

“I intended to go and speak in front of the international community in Davos. That’s still on, but if the shutdown continues, I won’t go,” he had said.

The partial shutdown has brought the functioning of several wings of the federal government, including the State Department, to a standstill, leaving more than 800,000 employees without pay. The shutdown will enter its 22^nd day on Saturday, breaking the previous record of 21 days of US government shutdown under the Bill Clinton administration.

Trump said the partial government shutdown could be resolved in 15 minutes, but for the Democrats, who he alleged are not interested in national security.

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"The buck stops with everybody. They can solve this problem in literally 15 minutes. We could be back, we could have border security. They could stop this problem in 15 minutes if they wanted to,” he said.

“I really believe now that they (Democrats) don’t want to...they don’t care about crime,” he added.