Mexican Govt: We ‘Categorically’ Refuse To Pay For Trump’s Border Wall

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, right, talks with Mexico's Finance Minister Luis Videgaray as they arrive for a meeting of the High Level Economic Dialogue between Mexico and the U.S. in Mexico City, Thursday, Feb. 25... U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, right, talks with Mexico's Finance Minister Luis Videgaray as they arrive for a meeting of the High Level Economic Dialogue between Mexico and the U.S. in Mexico City, Thursday, Feb. 25, 2016. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell) MORE LESS
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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Mexican government has made his first direct response to Donald Trump’s pledge to build a wall along the two countries’ border — and make Mexico pay for it.

Mexican Treasury Secretary Luis Videgaray says “emphatically and categorically” that his country isn’t going to foot the bill for the project proposed by the Republican presidential hopeful.

Videgaray told Milenio television late Wednesday that “Mexico will under no circumstance pay for the wall that Mr. Trump is proposing.”

The wall proposal has been criticized widely and fiercely in Mexico, but the government itself has tried to avoid commenting directly on the issue until now.

Trump is leading the Republican presidential contenders and has used especially tough talk on immigration.

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Notable Replies

  1. Let’s see if this makes it into any of the questions Fox has for Trump at tonight’s debate.

  2. It will.

    Trump’s answer will be on the level of ‘whatever dude’.

    The answers to watch for though are Rubio, Cruz and Kasich.

    Especially Kasich.

  3. Trumps answer will be that he knows how to make them pay - he’s a business man and that’s what he does, and on and on

    And all will believe him.

  4. As far as I can tell, the Trump Mexico-funded wall proposal is based on the following:

    1. The 1,000 mile wall that Trump says we need will cost $10 billion
    2. We run an annual trade deficit with Mexico of approximately $58 billion (I haven’t checked his figures).
    3. If we can reduce the trade deficit by $1-2billion, we can claim that Mexico is funding the wall, albeit over a 5-10 (or longer) period.

    Trump, the master negotiator, can claim that Mexico is paying for the wall without actually any money changing hands – just a fictive reduction in our trade deficit.

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