With the news this week that the border wall between the U.S. and Mexico that Donald Trump made a cornerstone of his presidential campaign would cost more than $21 billion, almost twice what Trump originally claimed, the president took to Twitter on Saturday morning to respond.
The reason he said the wall will cost so much (and will take three years to complete)? It’s because he hasn’t even begun negotiating the details.
I am reading that the great border WALL will cost more than the government originally thought, but I have not gotten involved in the…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 11, 2017
…design or negotiations yet. When I do, just like with the F-35 FighterJet or the Air Force One Program, price will come WAY DOWN!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 11, 2017
In December, Trump bashed the F-35 fighter jet program in a tweet, which immediately sunk the stock of Lockheed Martin. A week before that, he had tweeted that Boeing’s contract to build a new Air Force One was out of control, causing Boeing’s stock to plummet.
Lockheed Martin earlier this month agreed to sell the planes for cheaper to the U.S. Defense Department, reportedly saving the government more than $700 million.
Fortunately for American businesses, it seems unlikely that Trump’s tweets on Saturday will affect anybody’s stock prices. But no matter how much the wall costs or how much negotiating Trump does, remember this: Mexico says it won’t be the country to pay for it.
