Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto says he has told US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump that Mexico will not pay for the candidate's proposed wall along the Mexico-US border.
"At the beginning of the conversation with Donald Trump, I made it clear that Mexico will not pay for the wall," said Pena Nieto said via Twitter on Wednesday, following a joint press conference with Trump in Mexico City,
Pena Nieto's remark directly contradicts comments made by Trump, who said they had discussed the wall before a joint presser but had not discussed who would pay for it.
"Who pays for the wall? We didn't discuss," said Trump, adding, "We did discuss the wall. We didn't discuss payment of the wall. That'll be for a later date."
Trump has repeatedly pledged to build a wall along the Southern border to prevent more Mexicans from entering the US illegally, and has promised to force Mexico to cover the cost of the construction of his proposed wall.
He has also called illegal Mexican immigrants rapists and criminals, and has vowed to deport some 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the shadows in the United States.
In a July interview with CNN, Pena Nieto said, “There is no way that Mexico can pay [for] a wall like that.”