If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.

That must be what US President Donald Trump is thinking as funding for his border wall with Mexico stalls and he continues to try and find ways to reopen the government.

media_camera A stop sign in front of the international border fence in Nogales, Arizona. Picture: AP

Mr Trump took to Twitter overnight to argue that his border wall was not that revolutionary and that in fact the US was following many other countries.

It is a huge change in rhetoric for Mr Trump who constantly insists that the US is following its own path and leading the rest of the world.

“There are now 77 major or significant Walls built around the world, with 45 countries planning or building Walls,” he tweeted. “Over 800 miles (1300kms) of Walls have been built in Europe since only 2015. They have all been recognised as close to 100% successful. Stop the crime at our Southern Border!”

media_camera A construction crew works (L) as new sections of the US-Mexico border barrier are installed replacing smaller fences this wee. Picture: Getty

His accounting of border walls around the globe seems to add up, according to a 2018 analysis by USA Today.

“[T]here are at least 77 walls or fences around the world — many erected after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York City and at the Pentagon,” the newspaper reported last May.

At the end of World War II, there were seven border walls or fences in the world. By the time the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, there were 15, USA Today reported. Now there are at least 77.

Israel built a 650km wall in the West Bank in 2002, while India constructed a 2700km barbed wire fence along its border with Bangladesh.

media_camera Palestinians watching workers install cement blocks pillars, building separation barrier wall in Abu Dis, Jerusalem, in 2004. Picture: Supplied

Mr Trump is currently in a deadlock with the Democrats, who refuse to give him more than $US1 for his wall. The government has now been shutdown for more than three weeks, making it the longest shutdown in US history.

There appears to be no end in sight as both sides refuse to budge on their positions.

media_camera Prototypes of border walls in San Diego. Picture: AP

It comes as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called on Mr Trump to delay his State of the Union address and his own economists acknowledged the prolonged standoff was having a greater economic drag than previously thought.

In a letter to Mr Trump, Ms Pelosi cited security concerns, noting that both the Secret Service and the Homeland Security Department are affected by the partial government shutdown.

She added that unless the government reopens this week, they should find another date - it’s now January 29 - or Mr Trump should deliver the address in writing.

media_camera US President Donald Trump (2R) argues about border security with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. Picture: Getty

Kevin Hassett, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, said Tuesday the shutdown is slowing growth more than predicted.

Mr Hassett told reporters the White House is doubling its estimate of the strain on the economy of the shutdown, and now calculates that it is slowing growth by about 0.1 percentage points a week.

Originally published as Trump shifts his argument for wall