Mexico has made clear it will never pay for President Donald
Trump's planned southern border wall.
The country's economy minister said this on Thursday, after the US leader insisted again that he would make Mexico pay for the barrier.
"The President of Mexico (Enrique Pena Nieto) has been very clear: Mexico will never pay for this wall," Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo wrote on Twitter after a day of meetings in Washington.
Trump
told the Wall Street Journa,l in an interview published on Thursday, that Mexico could pay for the wall. He hopes the wall will stem illegal immigration, "indirectly" through changes to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
Trump
has said he will withdraw from NAFTA if the accord cannot be renegotiated in favour of the United States.
Guajardo was in Washington for talks this week with US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer over the modernisation of NAFTA, according to a statement by Mexico's Economy Ministry.
Guajardo wrote on Twitter that the border wall had not been discussed at any time during his meetings with US officials, nor in the negotiations over how to rework NAFTA.
