Donald Trump to lay the foundations for Mexico border wall

The debut of Donald Trump's Truth Social took centre stage on Tuesday as the platform's parent company, Digital World Acquisition, went public, valuing the budding social network at over $9 billion.

Donald Trump tweeted: “Among many other things, we will build the wall!”

City AM reports that Trump has spoken of plans to build a wall alongside the southern border with Mexico and repeatedly insisted Mexico pay – the Mexican government has repeatedly rejected these claims.

Then earlier this month Trump said taxpayers will foot the initial bill for the building project, with a congressionally approved spending bill. Then he says Mexico will reimburse the US, though hasn’t provided clarity on how he would guarantee payments.

Reports have said the President will sign executive orders starting from today, including a temporary ban on most refugees and a suspension of visas for citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries: Syria, Iraq, Somalia, Iran, Libya, Sudan and Yemen.

Reuters said several congressional aides and immigration experts briefed on the matter said the first of the orders will be signed today.

The restrictions on refugees are likely to include a multi-month ban on admissions from all countries until the state and homeland security departments have beefed up the vetting process.

The Republican took office last Friday and has been rather busy since then…

He has encouraged car firm bosses to boost production in the US, while pledging to slash “out of control” regulations to attract more investment. He’s also signed executive orders for construction of the controversial Keystone XL and Dakota Access oil pipelines, which had been thrown under doubt due to environmental concerns.

It comes as the Economist Intelligence Unit’s annual Democracy Index branded the US a “flawed democracy”. The index, which ranks the governance of countries worldwide, relegated the American system from a full democracy to a flawed one.