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Trump’s tweets saying he’s already building the border wall, briefly explained

© Joe Raedle/Getty Images This piece of the border wall is mostly already built.

President Donald Trump wants his social media followers to know that even if Congress is unwilling to give him as much money as he wants for a border wall, he’s nonetheless building it. And he really is — with a couple significant caveats.

On Wednesday, Trump tweeted a time-lapse video from the Army Corps of Engineers that shows construction of bollard fencing along the southern border in Santa Teresa, New Mexico.

“We have just built this powerful Wall in New Mexico,” Trump wrote. “Completed on January 30, 2019 — 47 days ahead of schedule! Many miles more now under construction! #FinishTheWall”

But Trump’s claim that the project in the video was “just built” is false. According to KOAT-TV in Albuquerque, the project — $73 million to build a “column-style wall that stretches for 20 miles west of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) port of entry in Santa Teresa” — was actually completed last November.

The wall-like structure in Santa Teresa isn’t new in more ways than one. The structure replaced fences and other barriers that were already there, KOAT-TV reports.

The AP reported that the project was “funded with operations and maintenance money budgeted through the Army Corps of Engineers,” which explains why the Army Corps of Engineers’ logo is on the video.

While the time frame that Trump presented in his tweet is misleading, it is true that the project was completed months ahead of schedule. For Trump, though, the exact facts are somewhat irrelevant — he just came out of a bruising battle with House Democrats over wall funding that he objectively lost, which resulted in him turning to a legally questionable and politically dubious emergency declaration to reallocate funding from other projects to build the wall. Now he wants to say that he won anyway, no matter the reality.

“THE WALL IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION RIGHT NOW!”

On Thursday, Trump retweeted the video he posted the day before and wrote, “THE WALL IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION RIGHT NOW!”

Trump’s tweet is technically true, though it depends how you define “wall.” CBP recently started work on a project to upgrade 14 miles of existing border structures near San Diego. Work is also set to begin soon on a six-mile section of new border wall in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley.

Funding for all of the aforementioned projects came from congressional appropriations bills Trump signed in 2017 and 2018. Both of those bills explicitly prohibited Trump from building border wall prototypes he made a show of inspecting in San Diego in March of last year.

So while it’s true that Trump is building walls, he’s arguably not building “THE WALL.”

For Trump, perception is more important than reality

Trump’s tweets boasting about new wall construction come days after he declared a state of emergency he hopes will allow him to divert $3.6 billion in funds appropriated for military construction to build more border wall.

Lawsuits against Trump’s declaration have already been filed by the ACLU and a coalition of 16 states. While it’s unclear how the legal fight will play out, Trump did himself no favors last Friday when he said during the press conference in which he announced the emergency, “I didn’t need to do this, but I’d rather do it much faster.”

Meanwhile, House Democrats plan to introduce a resolution to terminate Trump’s emergency declaration as soon as Friday, February 22. As FiveThirtyEight detailed, the resolution is likely to be approved in the Democrat-controlled House and also has a good chance in the Republican-controlled Senate, which could force Trump to issue the first veto of his presidency.

The news moves fast. To stay updated, follow Aaron Rupar on Twitter, and read more of Vox’s policy and politics coverage.

02

Montreal wants to spruce up parks, waterfront

Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante is planning to green up the city this spring and summer.

Over the next three years, $75 million s will be available to improve waterfront access and renovate parks and playgrounds.

The lion's share -- $57 million -- is earmarked for parks, while the remaining $18 million is being set aside for water.

Boroughs will have to apply for the funds and the money will be granted based on need.

Demographic factors like population size, poverty rates, waterfront access and number of parks based on a borough's density, are some of the criteria for the money.

READ MORE: Montreal unveils plans for urban park over Ville-Marie tunnel

"We are really open, based on the needs of every boroughs," Plante said during a Thursday morning press conference.

Pierrefonds-Roxboro is one borough hoping to benefit.

Officials have been working for more than a year to purchase a piece of waterfront property next to Rivière-des-Prairies in the eastern part of the borough.

A new chalet has been built and the borough plans to open the area to the public with a path and visiting space.

READ MORE: With federal, provincial go-ahead, Verdun beach set to open in 2019

Borough Mayor Jim Beis says he intends to apply for the additional funds.

"This green space will add to our waterfront property and create a small nature park if you will," he told Global News.

There are 1,300 parks in the city.

Mayor Plante hopes the funds will help renovate some.

"The message we're sending today is we're giving you the ability or financial resources for boroughs to improve their parks for families and whole populations," she said.

READ MORE: Montreal buys land from developers to conserve L’Anse-à-l’Orme

But Beis doubts the $57 Million will be enough.

"Something that could cost for one project several million dollars, well that 50 or so million doesn't go very far," he said.

Boroughs have until the end of March to apply for the funds.

03

The Australian dollar's been slammed

© Getty

The Australian dollar was hit hard on Thursday, falling heavily despite the release of a strong Australian jobs report for January.

Westpac Bank became the first of Australia's majors to call for RBA rate cuts this year.

A report that China has banned Australian coal imports at a major northern port saw the Aussie dollar tumble on heightened geopolitical risks.

RBA Governor Philip Lowe will speak early in the Asian session.

The Australian dollar has been slammed, weighed down by a combination of growing RBA rate cut talk and geopolitical concerns surrounding China.

Here's the scoreboard at 8.30am in Sydney on Friday.

AUD/USD 0.7093 , -0.007 , -0.98%

AUD/JPY 78.52 , -0.87 , -1.10%

AUD/CNH 4.7694 , -0.0421 , -0.87%

AUD/EUR 0.6258 , -0.0059 , -0.93%

AUD/GBP 0.5440 , -0.0048 , -0.87%

AUD/NZD 1.0416 , -0.0027 , -0.26%

AUD/CAD 0.9379 , -0.0059 , -0.63%

After opening the session at .7163, the AUD/USD rose to as high as .7207 midway through the session, assisted by the release of a strong Australian jobs report for January.

However, Westpac Bank ensured the rally didn't last long, becoming the first of Australia's big four bank's to call for rate cuts from the RBA this year.

"We have revised down our GDP growth forecasts for 2019 and 2020 from 2.6% to 2.2%," said Bill Evans, Westpac's Chief Economist in a statement.

"With the slower growth profile we now expect to see the unemployment rate lift to 5.5% by late 2019. That makes a strong case for official rate cuts to cushion the downturn and, in turn, meet the RBA’s medium term objectives.

"Westpac now expects the Reserve Bank to cut the cash rate by 25 basis points in both August and November this year."

The announcement saw markets move to price a full 25 basis point rate hike by the end of the year, helping to drag Australian bond yields and dollar lower.

The Aussie was delivered a further hit in late Asian trade following a report from Reuters that China had banned imports of Australian coal at the northern Chinese port of Dalian, sparking renewed concern about a growing rift between the two countries.

"Dalian handles around seven million tonne per annum of Australian coal imports, equivalent to around 2% of Australian coal exports," said Vivek Dhar, Mining and Energy Commodities Analyst at the Commonwealth Bank.

"More importantly, though, the announcement crystallises fears that started in early February that China is deliberately targeting Australian coal imports.

"In early February China lifted waiting times from 25 days to 40 days for Australian coal to clear customs at a number of ports."

China accounts for around 23% of Australian coal exports.

The news saw the AUD/USD slump to as low as .7072 before partially recovering in late trade as Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg took to the airways to assure markets that Australian exports to China had not been banned.

The Aussie also fell heavily against all the major crosses except the New Zealand dollar, the latter also undermined by concern that China could take similar action against New Zealand too.

© Supplied AUD/USD 5-Minute Chart

Turning to the day ahead, most interest in the first half of the session will be on RBA Governor Philip Lowe's semi-annual testimony to the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics from 9.30am AEDT.

"He’ll speak about the economy, policy and no doubt other issues, the Royal Commission and more," said David de Garis, Economist at the NAB.

"We’ll be interested to see whether the Governor Lowe throws more light on how housing is proceeding, unpacking the Bank's thinking and research in the special paper on housing and implications for the economy presented at this month’s Board meeting.

"The market is also interested in teasing out the relative upside and downside risks to the economy. Is the domestic outlook tilted more to the downside given that Bank lowered the growth outlook for household consumption?"

Aside from Lowe's appearance, markets will also receive inflation data from Japan, Chinese new home prices and New Zealand credit card sending during the session.

Later in the day, the main highlights will be Eurozone inflation, German business confidence and detailed Q4 GDP and Canadian retail sales.

On the central bank front, Williams, Bostic and Clarida will deliver speeches as will Mario Draghi of the ECB.