PHOENIX, the United States, Aug. 23 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the United States would probably terminate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and reaffirmed the building of the southern border wall against Mexico.
"Personally, I don't think we can make a deal ... I think we'll end up probably terminating NAFTA at some point," Trump told the crowd in a prime-time address on Tuesday evening at the "Make America Great Again" rally held at the Phoenix Convention Center.
Trump said he doubted the United States can reach a deal to renegotiate NAFTA, a trilateral trading deal came into force on Jan. 1, 1994 and has greatly benefited the region's economy by eliminating almost all the tariffs between the United States, Canada and Mexico.
During the Tuesday's speech, Trump also threatened to shut down the U.S. federal government if Congress does not present him with a spending bill for the next fiscal year that includes funding for a wall on the southern border.
Trump promised to build his signature wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, calling it "absolutely necessary."
"The obstructionist Democrats would like us not to do it, but believe me, if we have to close down our government, we're building that wall," Trump said to the crowd.
The president spent about the first half of his rally defending his response to the violent in Charlottesville, Virginia, saying the "dishonest" media reports did not cover his response to the violence fairly.
"I strongly condemn neo-Nazis, white Supremacists and the KKK," Trump said. "I hit them with neo-Nazi. I hit them with everything. KKK? We have KKK. I got them all," he added.
The speech, lasted more than an hour, has drawn around 20 thousand of Trump supporters as well as at least two thousand of protesters. After his speech, police tried to disperse the protesters with tear gas.
