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Article snippet: WASHINGTON — President Trump engaged in contentious telephone calls with the leaders of Mexico and Australia in his early days in office, pressing them to make concessions to satisfy his own domestic political needs in exchanges so sharp that he said talking to President Russia was more pleasant. Transcripts of his calls with President previous news reports of tension during the conversations in January, just a week after Mr. Trump’s inauguration, and show a new president eager to fulfill campaign promises while developing relationships with foreign counterparts. The transcripts, assembled from the notes of aides listening to the calls, were obtained by The Washington Post, which posted them online on Thursday morning. With Mr. Peña Nieto, Mr. Trump repeatedly threatened to impose a stiff border tax to keep out Mexican products and complained about “pretty tough hombres” who were bringing so many drugs over the border that they had even made New Hampshire “a drug-infested den.” The biggest point of contention came as the president insisted that the Mexican president stop saying publicly that he would not pay for the wall that Mr. Trump had promised to build on the border between the two countries. “If you are going to say that Mexico is not going to pay for the wall, then I do not want to meet with you guys anymore because I cannot live with that,” Mr. Trump said. The call with Mr. Turnbull was even more testy as the president complained about what he called “a d... Link to the full article to read more