Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto said his government will not pay for the proposed wall on the country’s border with the United States, after President-elect Donald Trump reiterated his stand on the matter. Pena Nieto said his country wanted better relations with its neighbour and that sensitive matters, including security, migration, drug and gun cartels, would be negotiated with the new US administration.
Addressing his country’s diplomats at the National Palace, Pena Nieto said, “It is evident that we have differences with the new United States government on some issues, such as a wall that Mexico absolutely will not pay for,” The Guardian reported. “At no time will we accept anything that goes against our dignity as a country and our dignity as Mexicans,” the Mexico Star quoted him as saying.
Pena Nieto also said his government would enter a free trade agreement with the European Union, in an attempt to reduce its economic dependence on the United States. He said Washington should focus on curbing the movement of weapons and illegal money which supports organised crime in Mexico, Reuters reported.
During a press conference on Wednesday, Trump had said that his poll promise to build a wall on the US-Mexico border was on track. “I don’t wanna wait. [Vice-President-elect] Mike Pence is leading an effort to get final approval...Mexico in some form will reimburse us...that will happen,” he had said. The US president-elect had also said that Mexico would pay for it, like he had promised, through reimbursements and taxes if not directly.
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