Many problems faced by Americans, Donald Trump regularly proclaims, will be fixed when he builds a “big, beautiful” wall on the southern border of the US – and Mexico is going to pay for it.
But Mexican President Enrique Peña-Nieto says there is “no way” he will pay for Mr Trump’s wall between the neighbouring countries, throwing a wrench in a major part of the real estate mogul’s bid for the presidency.
In an interview with CNN, Mr Peña-Nieto stressed that the two countries must have a solid relationship if they are expected to prosper.
“We also have to bear in mind that the security of the United States is linked with the security of its neighbouring countries,” he said. “And this is what we have built. And I'll say it again, this is what we have been doing with the US government.
“We have a relationship of coordination, of collaboration and of cooperation in the area of security, precisely in order to have security in Mexico, to have security in the US and ... we are journey companions. We are strategic partners working for security in North America.
“There is no way that Mexico can pay [for] a wall like that.”
Former Mexican President Vicente Fox had previously spoken out against Mr Trump’s wall, telling Fusion’s Jorge Ramos, “I’m not going to pay for that f***ing wall,” in February.
He later apologised in an interview with conservative news site Breitbart.
Mr Peña-Nieto shot down remarks Mr Trump made about Mexicans when he first entered the race, calling immigrants from the country rapists and criminals.
“I cannot agree with such a generalisation for Mexicans,” he said. “There is no way to agree with comments like these which describe all Mexicans in such a way.”
The president continued to explain that more than a million people cross the US-Mexico border from either side each day.
“Not many people know, for instance, that every single day, one million people cross the border between Mexico and the U.S. and they do it legally – every single day – one million people cross the border from the US into Mexico and from Mexico into the US,” he said.
But regardless of who is elected – whether it is Mr Trump or Hillary Clinton – Mr Peña-Nieto looks forward to forging a strong relationship with them.
“We are very respectful to whomever is elected,” he said. “We want to build a positive and constructive relation among Mexico and to whomever becomes president of United States.”
