Carlos Jasso/Reuters
Just hours after President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday once again vowed that Mexico would pay for a wall along the U.S. border, Mexico’s president bluntly said no such thing will be happening. Enrique Peña Nieto commented on the wall controversy at the end of a speech at the National Palace on Wednesday evening. “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,” Nieto was cited as saying by CNN. Earlier in the day, speaking at his first press conference, Trump had doubled down on his campaign pledge to have Mexico cover the costs of the wall, denying recent reports that U.S. taxpayers would bear the costs. He said the U.S. would build the wall first and Mexico would make a “reimbursement” later, echoing previous remarks from when he blamed the “dishonest” and “fake” media for spreading reports to the contrary. It remains to be seen whether Mexico’s president will now also be deemed “fake.”