YURI CORTEZ/AFP/Getty Images
Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto took to Twitter on Thursday to once again insist that his country won’t pay for a border wall, no matter how many times GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump promises it will.
“I repeat what I told him in person: Mr. Trump, Mexico will never pay for the wall,” he wrote in Spanish.
The two men met privately on Wednesday, and their stories about the interaction differed.
Trump told reporters at a press conference that they “did not discuss payment of the wall” he has promised to build if he wins the general election. But Peña Nieto’s spokesman said later that the president began the meeting by saying Mexico would not pay for the wall.
Trump continued to say Mexico would pay later on Wednesday.
Mexico will pay for the wall!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 1, 2016
That tweet earned another rebuttal from Peña Nieto, who said he had shot down the idea during the meeting.
Al inicio de la conversación con Donald Trump dejé claro que México no pagará por el muro.
— Enrique Peña Nieto (@EPN) August 31, 2016
Peña Nieto also said in an op-ed for El Universal on Thursday that he told Trump he was offended by the things the candidate has said about Mexicans and that his country would not pay for a wall.
While delivering a speech in Phoenix on Wednesday evening, Trump called the Mexican president “a man I like and respect very much” but dismissed his words about a wall.
“Mexico will pay for the wall, 100 percent,” Trump said during his speech. “They don’t know it yet, but they’re going to pay for the wall.”
He said that it would be “an impenetrable, physical, tall, power, beautiful southern border wall” with technology to keep people from digging tunnels or going over it.
“Mexico will work with us. I absolutely believe it,” he said. “And especially after meeting with their wonderful, wonderful president today. I really believe they want to solve this problem along with us, and I’m sure they will.”