Mexico is willing to talk with the US in order to maintain good relations, but paying for US President Donald Trump’s border wall “is not negotiable,” Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray said on Thursday.
“There are things that are not negotiable, things that cannot and will not be negotiated. The fact that it is being said that Mexico should pay for the wall is something that is simply not negotiable; this is about our dignity,” Videgaray said during a news conference at the Mexican embassy in Washington after finishing a second day of meetings at the White House.
“We are a proud nation,” he said.
Photo: AFP
Holding true to his campaign promise, Trump on Wednesday ordered US officials to begin to design and construct a wall along the 3,200km US-Mexico border.
The White House has since then floated the idea of a 20 percent tax on Mexican imports to cover the cost of the wall, but later backtracked and called it just one idea among many.
Such a tax would only harm Americans, Videgaray said.
“Here in the United States avocados, washing machines, televisions, many things that North American families like to buy and that are expensive, would cost more,” he said. “It would be the American consumer who would be paying.”
Mexico’s top diplomat was at the White House on Thursday to help pave the way for a visit by Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto when his team received word of a Trump tweet suggesting that if Mexico were not willing to build the wall it should cancel the trip.
Pena Nieto tweeted later that he had informed the White House that he would “not attend the working meeting” scheduled for next week.
“We recognize that it is the beginning of a new relationship with President Trump and his government. We recognize that, as President Pena Nieto has said, we are ready to negotiate. We have clear priorities and objectives,” Videgaray said.
US House of Representative Republicans are weighing a plan that would exempt export revenues from taxation, but impose a 20 percent tax on imported goods.
Such a proposal would be a significant change from current US policy.
Countries like Mexico would not pay such taxes directly.
Companies would face the tax if they import products made there into the US, potentially raising prices for US consumers.
Trump, who visited Republican lawmakers at a policy retreat in Philadelphia, told them he would use tax reform legislation to pay for the border wall.
“We’re working on a tax reform bill that will reduce our trade deficits, increase American exports and will generate revenue from Mexico that will pay for the wall if we decide to go that route,” Trump said.
Additional reporting by Reuters and Bloomberg
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