Mexican President Says Mexico Will Not Pay for Trump Wall

 Enrique Peña Nieto - World Economic Forum on Latin America 2010. Photo by Edgar Alberto Domínguez Cataño.
Enrique Peña Nieto – World Economic Forum on Latin America 2010. Photo by Edgar Alberto Domínguez Cataño.

Although President Enrique Peña Nieto of Mexico says he will work with whoever the voters of the United States will choose in November, his country will not be paying for a wall along the Mexican border with the US.

“There is no way to have Mexico pay the — a wall, but any decisions inside United States is a decision of its government,” Nieto declared in an interview broadcast on Sunday. “There is no way that Mexico can pay [for] a wall like that.”
The President was speaking with Fareed Zakaria on his CNN TV program.

The likely Republican nominee, Donald Trump, has said many times that if he is elected US president he will build a wall between Mexico and the US to keep out illegal aliens, and force Mexico to pay the expense of the wall.

The wall is not the only disagreement Nieto has with Trump, bristling at the characterization of Mexicans as drug dealers, rapists, and an assortment of other criminals.

“I cannot agree with such a generalization for Mexicans,” he understated.

“There’s no way to agree with comments like these which describe all Mexicans in such a way,” he said. “I believe that in every country, there are individuals who are criminals, that we need to fight and apply the full extent of the law.”

As far as his feelings about the election and the two candidates Nieto said that he is “sure that both [Clinton and Trump] would like to build good conditions and better wellness for their people.”

He added that, ”We are very respectful to whomever is elected. We want to build a positive and constructive relation among Mexico and to whomever becomes president of United States.”

Gail Nussbaum

Gail Nussbaum has been involved in politics and diplomacy for over 15 years. Her interest in foreign relations, economics and budget policy has led her to her position as fiscal policy writer at Left Justified. Gail can be contacted at gailnussbaum(at)leftjustified.com.

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