Mexico’s president: We will not pay for the wall

Mexico’s president said Wednesday that his country will not pay for a wall on its border with the United States, despite President-elect Donald Trump’s promises that the country would cover the cost of the project.

“It is evident that we have some differences with the new government of the United States, like the topic of the wall, that Mexico of course will not pay,” President Enrique Peña Nieto said during a speech at the National Palace, according to CNN.

Trump campaigned on the promise to build a wall along the Unites States’s southern border, paid for by Mexico.

{mosads}But Trump on Wednesday said in his first press conference since winning the election that Mexico will more likely reimburse the U.S. after construction is finished. 

“I could wait about a year and half until we finish our negotiations with Mexico, which will start immediately after we get to office, but I don’t want to wait,” the president-elect said.

“[Vice President-elect] Mike Pence is leading an effort to get final approvals through various agencies and through Congress for the wall to begin.”

After meeting with Trump in August, Peña Nieto said his country would not be footing the bill for a wall.