Mexico insists paying for wall is ‘not negotiable’
MEXICO CITY: Mexico is willing to talk with the United States in order to maintain good relations, but paying for President Donald Trump’s border wall “is not negotiable” Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray said on Thursday.
“There are things that are not negotiable, things that cannot and will not be negotiated. The fact that it is being said that Mexico should pay for the wall is something that is simply not negotiable,” Mr Videgaray said during a news conference at the Mexican embassy in Washington.
Holding true to his campaign promise, Mr Trump on Wednesday ordered US officials to begin to design and construct a wall along the 3,200km US-Mexico border.
The White House has since then floated the idea of a 20% tax on Mexican imports to cover the cost of the wall, but later backtracked and called it just one idea among many.
Such a tax, Mr Videgaray said on Thursday, would only harm US citizens.
“Here in the United States avocados, washing machines, televisions, many things that North American families like to buy and that are expensive, would cost more,” he said.
“It would be the American consumer who would be paying,” Mr Videgaray added.
The top diplomat was at the White House on Thursday to help pave the way for a visit by Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto when his team received word of a Trump tweet suggesting that if Mexico were not willing to build the wall it should cancel the trip.
Mr Pena Nieto tweeted later that he had informed the White House that he would “not attend the working meeting” next week.
“We recognise that it is the beginning of a new relationship with President Trump and his government. We recognise that, as President Pena Nieto has said, we are ready to negotiate. We have clear priorities and objectives,” Mr Videgaray said.
Mr Trump tweeted on Thursday that “if Mexico is unwilling to pay for the badly needed wall, then it would be better to cancel the upcoming meeting” in Washington DC.
Mr Trump said on Wednesday he would start building a US-Mexico border wall and vowed to make Mexico pay for it. Mexico opposes the wall and has repeatedly said it won’t pay for it.
Mexican officials said there was no immediate reaction to Mr Trump’s tweet. Officials said on Wednesday Mexico was “considering” cancelling.
Former foreign relations secretary Jorge Castaneda told local media: “Pena Nieto has no other choice but to say ‘I’m not going’.”
Mr Trump’s unusual, voluble and unpredictable style appeared to catch Mexico’s normally quiet and cautious diplomacy off guard.
Finance Secretary Jose Antonio Meade told Grupo Formula radio: “I think that, in general, diplomacy is not conducted via Twitter.
“The foreign relations secretary is involved up there, having meetings up there, and we’ll have to see what comes out of that, what report they send to the president and what conclusions they arrive at from all that,” said Mr Meade.