US President Donald Trump threatens govt shutdown after Mexico border wall row

Washington: An angry Donald Trump told Democratic leaders at the White House on Tuesday that he will shut down the US government because they refuse to approve billions of dollars in funding for his controversial Mexico border wall.

The president and top opposition congressional leaders had been meant to hold a reassuring Oval Office photo-op. Instead, their blazing row in front of the world's media gave a preview of the stormy future facing Trump as legal scandals mount and his Republican party gives up its once total control of Congress.

Chuck Schumer, the senior Democrat in the still Republican-dominated Senate, and Nancy Pelosi, who is likely to become speaker in the newly Democrat-controlled House of Representatives in January, bluntly told Trump that he had no chance of getting the $5 billion he wants for the wall. Exasperated, Trump doubled down on earlier threats to retaliate by refusing to sign a federal spending bill required by December 21 to avoid leaving swaths of the government without funding.

“Yes, if we don't get what we want one way or the other..., I will shut down the government,” he said. “I am proud to shut down the government for border security.” Schumer objected, while Pelosi suggested that the debate shouldn't take place in front of journalists.

Trump’s US-Mexico wall idea was at the center of his surprise 2016 election victory.