Trump Says Resettling Australia's Refugees Is the 'Worst Deal Ever'—Vows to 'Study This Dumb Deal'

It must be the only gratifying thing that's happened since Trump became president. On Saturday, according to the Washington Post, Trump took Malcolm Turnbull to task over Australia's shirking of its international responsibilities and for attempting to have its refugees resettled in the US.

"This is the worst deal ever," Trump told Prime Minister Turnbull, according to a senior US official. "I don't want these people."

"These people" refers to 1,250 refugees, predominantly from Iran, Iraq, Sudan, and Somalia who attempted to enter Australia without visas and have since been detained on Manus Island and Nauru. In the final months of the Obama Administration, the Coalition announced that these refugees would be resettled in the US—a commitment which Donald Trump seems keen to avoid.

No transcript of the conversation is available, and reports of its details have been obtained unofficially. But according to reports from those in the room, the President reiterated only that it was "my intention" to honour the agreement—a phrase which seems less than definite.

The phone call, made at 5 PM Washington-time, came after Trump had spoken to several international leaders including Germany's Angela Merkel and France's François Hollande. These phone calls were mostly scheduled for an hour but Turnbull's call, also scheduled for an hour, was cut short. After a deadlock was established on refugees, Turnbull attempted to swing the conversation to other matters but Trump called time after only 25 minutes.

Then, after speaking with four other leaders that day, including Vladimir Putin, Trump allegedly described his conversation with Turnbull as the "worst by far."

Despite these comments, on Thursday the US embassy in Canberra confirmed it would honour its refugee deal with Australia.

"President Trump's decision to honour the refugee agreement has not changed," a spokesperson told The Australian. "This was just reconfirmed to the State Department from the WH and on to this embassy at 1315 Canberra time."

Two hours after the statement was published, Trump tweeted this:

It's fair to say that Australia's refugee deal is still up in the air.