--- title: The Insane Cost of the Border Wall if the Government Shuts Down description: President Trump is proposing to shut down the government if the border wall is not funded. Here's what that would cost. authors: - name: Paul J. Lim url: https://money.com/author/paul-j-lim-3/ at_money_since: 2014 articles: 104 covers: - Economy and Politics - Banking - Business - Housing - Identity Theft - Investing - Retirement - Taxes social: - https://x.com/pauljlim former_staff: true published: '2017-08-25T16:00:05.000Z' modified: '2017-08-25T16:00:05.000Z' section: Economy and Politics tags: - border wall - government shutdown - president trump - stocks - wall street word_count: 318 canonical: https://money.com/the-insane-cost-of-the-border-wall-if-the-government-shuts-down/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![170825-government-shutdown-border-wall](https://img.money.com/2017/08/170825-government-shutdown-border-wall.jpg) *The U.S. Capitol looms in the background of a sign on the National Mall reminding visitors of the closures to all national parks due to the federal government shutdown in Washington October 3, 2013.* If President Trump [follows through on his promise](http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/347588-trump-threatens-to-shut-down-government-to-build-border-wall) and shuts down the government to force Congress to build a wall along the Mexican border, his controversial pet project could end up costing ten times more than current estimates, in real terms. Here's why: In the past 18 federal government shutdowns since 1976, the stock market has lost 0.6% of its value, on average, according to an analysis by LPL financial. (In the handful of occasions in which Washington was shut down despite being controlled by a single political party, stocks fell more than 2% on average). A 0.6% loss may not sound like much, but given that the total U.S. market is now worth around $25 trillion, that works out to a loss of $150 billion in real wealth. Now, add to that what a shutdown could cost the actual economy. The last time the government was forced to close — in 2013, when a divided Congress could not agree with then-President Obama on a budget due to [battles over Obamacare funding](http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/01/us/politics/congress-shutdown-debate.html) — [the showdown cost the domestic economy $24 billion](http://swampland.time.com/2013/10/17/heres-what-the-government-shutdown-cost-the-economy/) and reduced that quarter's GDP growth by more than half of a percentage point, according to Standard & Poor's. Next, factor in the cost of actually building the wall. Earlier this year, the [U.S. Department of Homeland Security](http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-immigration-wall-exclusive-idUSKBN15O2ZN) estimated that erecting a system of walls and fences along the entire U.S.-Mexico border would require $21.6 billion. A [separate report](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/18/us/politics/senate-democrats-border-wall-cost-trump.html) prepared by Democrats on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee concluded that this estimate was too low — and that it could cost nearly $70 billion to construct such a wall and then would require $150 million annually to maintain it. But even taking the more conservative figure, construction costs plus economic and market-related costs tied to a government shutdown would work out to nearly $200 billion, not the $21.6 billion cost according to Homeland Security. ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/the-insane-cost-of-the-border-wall-if-the-government-shuts-down/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Economy and Politics", "item": "https://money.com/economy-and-politics/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Federal Agencies", "item": "https://money.com/federal-agencies/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "The Insane Cost of the Border Wall if the Government Shuts Down" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/the-insane-cost-of-the-border-wall-if-the-government-shuts-down/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/the-insane-cost-of-the-border-wall-if-the-government-shuts-down/", "name": "The Insane Cost of the Border Wall if the Government Shuts Down", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2017-08-25T16:00:05.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/the-insane-cost-of-the-border-wall-if-the-government-shuts-down/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/the-insane-cost-of-the-border-wall-if-the-government-shuts-down/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2017-08-25T16:00:05.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "The Insane Cost of the Border Wall if the Government Shuts Down", "articleSection": "Economy and Politics", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2017/08/170825-government-shutdown-border-wall.jpg", "width": 2800, "height": 1866, "caption": "170825-government-shutdown-border-wall" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Paul J. 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