Donald Trump now says Mexico will ‘reimburse’ the U.S. for his border wall. Their former president still isn’t having it.
During Wednesday’s press conference, President-elect Donald Trump doubled down on one of his major campaign pledges: A massive border wall separating the United States and Mexico.
Trump has repeatedly said Mexico will pay for the wall, a claim which has been met with skepticism. On Wednesday, he affirmed his intentions to make Mexico pay for the wall—but said it might not happen right away.
“I could wait about a year and a half until we finish our negotiations with Mexico, which will start immediately after we get to office,” Trump said. “But I don’t want to wait. … I don’t want to wait a year or a year and a half, we’re going to start building.”
Trump went on to say that Mexico will “reimburse us for the cost of the wall.”
Trump: “We’re going to build a wall…Mexico, in some form, will reimburse us.” https://t.co/SYIPLekALG https://t.co/O3XyS1jSdx
— CNN (@CNN) January 11, 2017
“That will happen, whether it’s a tax or whether it’s a payment—probably less likely that it’s a payment—but that will happen,” he said.
That assertion didn’t go over well Wednesday with former Mexican President Vicente Fox, who has been colorfully outspoken in rejecting Trump’s statement about making his country pay for the proposed wall.
Neither today, nor tomorrow nor never Mexico will pay for that stupid wall. If Trump wants a monument to his ego, let him pay for it!!
— Vicente Fox Quesada (@VicenteFoxQue) January 11, 2017
Fox went on to call Trump a “bully and a bluff” who needs to be called out.
After #TrumpPressConference, it’s clear that we’re facing a new era of dictatorship with @realDonaldTrump. He’s not a democratic leader.
— Vicente Fox Quesada (@VicenteFoxQue) January 11, 2017
In a tweet last week, the former Mexican president, who has long identified with the Republican Party, told Trump to “be clear with US tax payers.”
“They will pay for it,” he said of the wall.
Speaking on Mexican television last week, the country’s current foreign minister, Luis Videgaray, said there is “no way” his country will foot the bill for the wall.
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