Donald Trump told a whopper of a lie on Thursday when he declared that he “never said” Mexico would pay for the wall directly.

Now, he’s arguing that his oft-repeated pledge that “Mexico will pay for the wall” is not incongruent with his new claims that it will be “funded” through a renegotiated trade deal.

Trump tweeted, “I often said during rallies, with little variation, that ‘Mexico will pay for the Wall.’ We have just signed a great new Trade Deal with Mexico. It is Billions of Dollars a year better than the very bad NAFTA deal which it replaces. The difference pays for Wall many times over!”

I often said during rallies, with little variation, that “Mexico will pay for the Wall.” We have just signed a great new Trade Deal with Mexico. It is Billions of Dollars a year better than the very bad NAFTA deal which it replaces. The difference pays for Wall many times over!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 11, 2019

Trump’s claim has fueled headaches for fact-checkers since he started making it last year. First off, the new NAFTA deal hasn’t even passed yet, and if it does, won’t go into effect until 2020.

Secondly, Trump is asking Congress to fund the wall. If it ever gets approved, the money would come from the U.S. Treasury, which is the American taxpayer. You know where money saved from a renegotiated trade deal doesn’t go? The U.S. Treasury.

Additionally, during the 2016 campaign Trump pledged that Mexico would fund the wall with a “one-time payment” of $5-10 billion — which he said would take just three days of negotiations to obtain.

Twitter quickly pointed this out:

1) that deal IS NOT ratified yet
2) you’re not allowed to allocate money wherever you want
3) a trade deficit didn’t actually cost us anything; it means Americans bought more stuff

Your followers are being taken advantage of; they’re ignorant of reality, and don’t even know it.

— ➖Dustin Miller➖ (@spdustin) January 11, 2019

That’s not how trade deals work. This money IS NOT paying for the wall. Taxpayers will still get the bill!

— Ed Krassenstein (@EdKrassen) January 11, 2019

This makes no fucking sense.

At best, Americans will be more productive under the trade deal, so they'll pay more taxes…but that's still AMERICANS paying for the Wall.

You and your supporters are fucking idiots.

— Pé Resists (@4everNeverTrump) January 11, 2019

1. Congress still needs to ratify the USMCA deal.

2. Companies, not countries, pay tariffs.

3. No matter how many times you say it, Mexico isn't paying for the wall, directly or indirectly, anytime soon. As things now stand, U.S. taxpayers would wind up with the bill.

— Thorsten (@Airvooocht) January 11, 2019

This trade deal he’s talking about is literally just a rebrand of "the very bad NAFTA deal"

It has not been approved by Congress yet!

If it already pays for the Wall,

WHY IS THE GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN???https://t.co/wjNtp57flL

— Ryan Hill (@RyanHillMI) January 11, 2019