Donald Trump has given Republicans a fresh electoral headache by reiterating his threat to shut down the US government if Congress fails to provide extra money for border security.



Trump threatens government shutdown over immigration Read more

“I would have no problem doing a shutdown,” the president said during a joint press conference at the White House with Italian prime minister Giuseppe Conte. “It’s time we had border security.”

Federal government funding expires at the end of September, just weeks before the midterm elections where many Republicans face difficult races. A shutdown would be the third such political embarrassment since Republicans took control of the White House, House and Senate.

Trump has pledged to campaign for Republicans but remains wedded to his plan for a border wall, which Mexico refuses to fund, leaving him to depend on American taxpayers instead. He has previously requested $25bn but said on Monday he has no “red line” for what must be approved and made no comment on timing before or after the midterms.

“I’ll always leave room for negotiation,” he told reporters in the East Room. “But this has been many years. This isn’t just Trump administration; we’re new. It’s been many years, even decades. We have immigration laws, we have border security, we have all sorts of things going on that are – it’s disgraceful.

“We are doing a phenomenal job, we are setting records, but we have laws that don’t work so we are working around those laws and it’s unfortunate … Border security includes the wall but it includes many other things … I would certainly be willing to close it [the government] down to get it done.”



Trump welcomed Conte to Washington as “my new friend”, sensing a rare kindred spirit in Europe. The new Italian leader is a fellow political outsider and populist who has taken a hard line on immigration, pushing for the European Union to accept tens of thousands of people coming across the Mediterranean every year, and voiced support for Trump’s idea of inviting Russia back into the G7.

As they stood side by side on the podium, Trump praised the prime minister for taking a “firm stance on the border”.

He also ran through a wish list including including scrapping a visa lottery programme, ending the practice of releasing immigrants caught entering the country illegally on the condition that they attend court hearings and shifting the system to one based less on family ties.

Trump’s comments echoed a tweet a day earlier that said: “I would be willing to ‘shut down’ government if the Democrats do not give us the votes for Border Security, which includes the Wall! Must get rid of Lottery, Catch & Release etc. and finally go to system of Immigration based on MERIT!”

Trump returned to the idea after a meeting at the White House last week with Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell and House speaker Paul Ryan, at which they reportedly agreed on the way forward on government funding for the budget year that starts on 1 October.

Ryan said on Capitol Hill after the meeting: “The president’s willing to be patient to make sure that we get what we need so that we can get that done.” He added that money for the wall was “not a question of if, it’s a question of when”.

Migration is threat to EU free travel area, says Italian prime minister Read more

McConnell told a radio interviewer last week that a shutdown so close to the 6 November elections will not happen. He acknowledged, however, that the border funding issue in particular was unlikely to be resolved before polling day.

During Monday’s press conference, the US president also offered a surprise olive branch to Iran despite recent provocations, saying that he is willing to meet President Hassan Rouhani without preconditions. “I would meet with Iran if they wanted to meet,” he said. “I don’t know if they are ready yet. No preconditions.



“They want to meet, I’ll meet. Any time they want. Good for the country. Good for them. Good for us. And good for the world.”