MEXICAN OFFICIAL calls border wall “hostile act.”
Not paying, insists its chief diplomat
MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s foreign-relations secretary on Tuesday called U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan to build a border wall an “unfriendly, hostile” act, adding it is a “bad idea” that will further aggravate increasingly tense relations between the longtime allies.
And though Trump has asserted repeatedly that he will get the U.S.’ neighbor to pay for building the wall, Foreign Secretary Luis Videgaray told legislators that Mexico won’t pay a cent of the costs.
“It is not part of a bilateral discussion, and we will not collaborate in the construction,” Videgaray said. “It’s a waste of resources.”
Trump had requested that Congress provide U.S. funds to begin the wall, but he signaled this week that he might be willing to wait until September.
Videgaray also said Mexico’s government would consider reducing security cooperation with the United States if talks on immigration and trade issues don’t go well. Trump has indicated that he soon will trigger the process to get congressional approval to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement.
“If the negotiation on other themes — immigration, the border, trade — isn’t satisfactory to Mexico’s interests, we will have to review our existing cooperation,” Videgaray said.
“This would be especially in the security areas … and that involves the national immigration agency, the federal police and, of course, the armed forces.”
Mexico cooperates with the United States in fighting drug cartels and other forms of transnational crime.
Videgaray also said the Mexican government was considering charging a fee for Americans entering the country, though he didn’t fully describe the idea or say to whom it might apply.
Asked by a legislator whether Mexico had considered imposing visa requirements for Americans, he answered: “We could explore not necessarily a visa; that could impede a lot of people from coming to Mexico. But we could perhaps [have] a fee associated with entry. This is something that I’m sure will be part of our discussion, and I believe we can find points of agreement.”