US President Donald Trump to visit Mexico border wall for groundbreaking

US President Donald Trump has said that he plans to visit the country's southwestern border with Mexico early next year for groundbreaking.

Trump has made securing the southern border a focal point of his presidency, with plans to beef up border security and create a wall as key components.

In an interaction with reporters during his surprise visit to Iraq with First Lady Melania, Trump said he wants to visit the border wall before the State of the Union Address next year.

This is his first visit to Iraq as the US President.

Trump said he is planning on "going to the wall" on the Southwest Border of the US early next year for a "groundbreaking".

Trump made these remarks while taking questions from reporters during a briefing with US military leaders shortly after landing in Iraq.

Trump indicated that he will not budge from his position on border wall. With the opposition Democrats refusing to approve the necessary funds, the federal government has been under a partial government shutdown for four days now.

"Whatever it takes. We need a wall. We need safety for our country. Even from this standpoint. We have terrorists coming in through the southern border," Trump said when asked how long this shutdown would last.

Surprise visit to Iraq

The US president stumped everyone with his surprise visit to a military base in Iraq. Addressing the US soldiers, Trump said that America cannot be the policeman of the world and urged other countries to share responsibilities.

Trump, on a surprise visit to US troops stationed in Iraq, defended his decision to pull American troops out of war-torn Syria, saying there would be no delays.

"The United States cannot continue to be the policeman of the world," Trump told reporters at a military base west of Baghdad, soon after he addressed American soldiers.

This is his first visit to Iraq as the US President. He is accompanied by First Lady Melania.

Trump vowed for a "harsh response" from his administration if there was to be another terrorist attack on America.

"If anything should happen at all, nobody will ever have suffered the consequences they had suffered," Trump told American troops at a military base west of Baghdad.

"It's not fair when the burden is all on us, the United States," he said, as he defended his decision to withdraw troops from Syria and let regional countries, Turkey in particular, to complete the work of finishing the remnants of the ISIS terror group and Saudi Arabia to invest in development of the war-ravaged country.