Will Skip Davos Summit if Govt Shutdown Continues: Trump

Washington, Jan 10 (PTI) US President Donald Trump on Thursday said he will skip the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) at Davos in Switzerland if the ongoing partial shutdown of the government continues.

The partial shutdown caused by the row over Trump's demand for a US-Mexico border has brought the functioning of several wings of the federal government, including the State Department, to a stand still.

"I intended to go and speak in front of the international community in Davos. That's still on, but if the shutdown continues, I won't go," Trump told reporters at the White House before leaving for a visit to the southern border in Texas.

Trump is scheduled to attend the five-day Davos Summit in Switzerland, which will begin from January 21.

The shutdown will enter its 22nd day on Saturday, breaking the previous record of 21 days of US government shutdown under the Bill Clinton administration.

Trump said the partial government shutdown could be resolved in 15 minutes, but for the Democrats, who he alleged are not interested in national security.

"The buck stops with everybody. They can solve this problem in literally 15 minutes. We could be back, we could have border security. They could stop this problem in 15 minutes if they wanted to," he said.

"I really believe now that they (Democrats) don't want to...they don't care about crime," he added.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)