Trump: I Didn’t Talk With Mexican President About Who Pays For Wall

After months of promising to use his skills as a negotiator to get Mexico to pay for a wall at the country’s border with the U.S., Donald Trump said Wednesday that he and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto did not discuss who would pay for the wall.

Speaking at a joint press conference after their private meeting in Mexico City, Trump said he was “straightforward” in discussing his views on trade and immigration with Peña Nieto but said the meeting was only “preliminary.

“Who pays for the wall? We didn’t discuss,” Trump told reporters. He confirmed they did speak about the wall but not payment.

The GOP nominee spoke in starkly different terms about Mexican immigrants living in the U.S. illegally than he has in other venues.

“And the United States’ first, second, and third generation Mexicans are just beyond reproach. Spectacular, spectacular, hard working people. I have such great respect for them, and their strong values of family, faith, and community,” Trump said.

He also outlined five shared goals for both countries, which included ending illegal immigration, improving the North American Foreign Trade Agreement, stopping drugs from entering the U.S., and keeping manufacturing wealth in the hemisphere. On the issue of borders, Trump called for increased security, which he called a “mutually beneficial” goal. He said the ability for either country to build a physical wall was a “sovereign right.”

For his part, Peña Nieto called the meeting “open and constructive.”

On the issue of immigration, the Mexican president provided something of a counterbalance to Trump’s fiery campaign rhetoric, noting that illegal immigration has reached a 10-year low and that the immigration has actually reached a net negative rate, with more Mexicans leaving than entering the country.

He also tread lightly on the issue of Trump’s signature foreign policy plan, saying both countries must invest in better security at the border.

“I do recognize that the natural right that every country has to protect it’s own borders, I also believe that a real corroboration between friends and allies is the best route to attain this,” Peña Nieto said.

This post has been updated.