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Trump’s Supreme Court Short List Appears at Six or Seven

U.S. leader floated NAFTA-replacement deal with Mexico’s president-elect

President Trump met with four Supreme Court nominee candidates Monday. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)
President Trump met with four Supreme Court nominee candidates Monday. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)

President Donald Trump appears to have a short list of six or seven as he tries to put a second justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Trump told reporters he met with four U.S. Supreme Court nominee candidates Monday morning and intends to meet with two or three more potential high court picks before he announces a nominee on July 9.

“I had a very, very interesting morning,” Trump said of those initial meetings.

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The president is slated to announce his pick the day before he leaves for a lengthy trip to a NATO summit in Belgium, a “working visit” to the United Kingdom and a one-on-one with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Finland. Trump has said he intends to select a nominee much like Neil Gorsuch, the solidly conservative justice he nominated to fill the vacancy left by Antonin Scalia’s death.

Meantime, Trump spoke Monday with Mexico’s president-elect, Andres Manuel López Obrador, telling reporters he thinks their relationship will be “a very good one.”

The duo discussed border security and trade, Trump said, adding they also discussed NAFTA and the possibility the United States might leave that pact and seek a one-on-one deal with Mexico.

And on speculation he might withdraw the U.S. from the World Trade Organization, the president continued playing coy.

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“We’re not planning anything now, but if they don’t treat us properly we will be doing something,” Trump said.

Late last week, White House legislative affairs director Marc Short told a group of reporters he is “not aware” of any plans within the White House to leave the trade organization.

Since he was a presidential candidate, Trump has hammered the WTO, saying it has treated the United States very unfairly and failed to crack down on alleged trade abuses by countries like China.

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