Mexico ‘will repay border wall cost’

United States President-elect Donald Trump says Mexico will repay the US for his planned border wall, after news emerged that his transition team was exploring getting the Republican-led Congress to vote to approve the funding.

Trump told The New York Times that he would most likely seek repayment through renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement between the US, Mexico and Canada.

Sean Spicer, a spokesman for Trump, said yesterday the incoming administration would need government funding to build the wall, and that Trump said in October Mexico’s payment would be a reimbursement.

‘‘The idea that we’re going through the appropriations process and figuring out how to pay for it shouldn’t be news,’’ he said, confirming earlier reports on the funding.

Trump’s promise to build a wall on the US-Mexico border, and make Mexico pay for it, was a major campaign theme and helped to energise his supporters.

The suggestion has infuriated Mexican officials, who have said they will never agree to pay.

Trump may face resistance in Congress to the idea of the US paying for the wall.

Former Mexican president Vicente Fox Qesada tweeted yesterday: ‘‘TRUMP, when will you understand that I am not paying for that f .... n wall. Be clear with US tax payers. They will pay for it.’’

Some Republican lawmakers are worried about the high cost and question whether a wall is the best way to solve the complex issue of illegal migration.

Republican Representative Luke Messer said yesterday he had proposed legislation to get Mexico to pay for the border wall by ending a child tax credit given to illegal immigrant parents, which he said cost US$4.2 billion annually.

‘‘If you close that loophole for two years, you could pay for the higher ticket cost,’’ Messer said, referring to one estimate that a wall could cost US$10b.

CNN and other media organisations reported that Trump’s transition team had signalled to congressional Republicans that he would prefer to fund the wall through Congress, as soon as April.

In response, Trump tweeted that the media was not reporting that Mexico would repay money spent to build the wall.

A ‘‘Pay for the Wall’’ memo Trump’s team issued in early 2016 proposed pressuring Mexico by cutting off remittances from undocumented Mexicans in the US. It proposed amending the Patriot Act, passed after the 9/11 attacks, to include wire transfers as accounts that could be frozen.

‘‘It’s an easy decision for Mexico: make a one-time payment of US$5-10 billion to ensure that US$24 billion [in remittances] continues to flow into their country year after year,’’ the memo said. ‘‘We have the leverage, so Mexico will back down.’’

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto’s office declined to comment on Trump’s comments. In August, Pena Nieto told Trump that Mexico would not pay for a border wall.

Representative Martha McSally, the Republican chair of the border and maritime security subcommittee, said a 2006 law known as the Secure Fence Act would give Trump the authority he needed to extend fencing or build a wall.

An internal report prepared by US Customs and Border Protection estimates initial costs for expanding border fencing at over US$11.3b. Building a wall would be more costly.

Trump has signalled since being elected that he would be open to a fence rather than a wall in some areas.