WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump on Sunday renewed his pledge to make Mexico pay for a border wall between the U.S and Mexico, days after threatening to trigger a government shutdown if congressional Republicans don't include funding as they take on a spending bill due Sept. 30.
"With Mexico being one of the highest crime nations in the world, we must have THE WALL," Trump posted on Twitter. "Mexico will pay for it through reimbursement/other. ..."
The president did not elaborate on how Mexico would cover the cost. The White House previously has suggested that one possibility is a 20 percent tax on imports from Mexico.
Mexico's Foreign Ministry issued a news release that didn't leave any question about the country's response.
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"As the government of Mexico has always maintained, our country will not pay, in any way or under any circumstances, for a wall or physical barrier built on US territory along the Mexican border," the release said. "This determination is not part of a Mexican negotiating strategy, but a principle of national sovereignty and dignity."
The release said that violence and the trafficking of drugs and arms is a "shared responsibility," and it even expressed "full solidarity with the people and government of the United States for the damages caused by Hurricane Harvey in Texas" with the offer of help from the Mexican government.
Trump has asked for $1.6 billion to begin border wall construction, but not all congressional Republicans agree about the merits of a fight to spend potentially billions of dollars more on a border barrier as they seek tax cuts.
At a rally last week in Phoenix, Trump said, "If we have to close down our government, we're building that wall," and that "one way or the other, we're going to get that wall."
A leading House conservative said Friday that he could support a short-term bill to fund the government after Sept. 30 and delay the fight over wall funding until December.
"I'm willing to do it whenever it makes sense," said Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, a founder of the conservative House Freedom Caucus. House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., also has suggested a better time for a stand would be when the House and Senate negotiate final fiscal 2018 spending bills later in the year.
Homeland security adviser Tom Bossert said Sunday on ABC's This Week that he was confident Congress would meet Trump's budget request and wouldn't speculate on whether the president would veto a measure without it.
Asked about Mexico paying for the wall, Bossert said the initial effort is on getting an appropriation to build the barrier.
"As we work with the Mexicans in other policies and trade policies and such, we'll determine ways for us to make that right," he said.
Trump, a week into his presidency, indicated to Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto that he understood the Mexican government would not outright pay the U.S. to build a border wall. But he implored him to stop saying so publicly, according to transcripts of the Jan. 27 call obtained by The Washington Post.
The president said that "we are both in a little bit of a political bind" but that he knew the funding would work out "somehow" and "come out in the wash." At the same time, according to the report, he said, "If you are going to say that Mexico is not going to pay for the wall, then I do not want to meet with you guys anymore because I cannot live with that."
Also Sunday, Trump accused Canada and Mexico of being "very difficult" at the negotiating table over the North American Free Trade Agreement, and threatening anew to terminate the deal.
Trump tweeted on Sunday morning that NAFTA is the "worst trade deal ever made."
The Foreign Ministry said in its statement that Mexico will not negotiate NAFTA or any other aspect of the bilateral relationship "through social networks or the media."
Mexico's foreign minister, Luis Videgaray, said Wednesday that NAFTA talks are continuing and if Trump really wanted to break up the pact, he would have done so already.
Trump said at the Phoenix rally that he would "end up probably terminating" NAFTA "at some point."
The U.S., Mexico and Canada began formal negotiations earlier this month to rework the 23-year-old trade pact that Trump blames for hundreds of thousands of lost U.S. factory jobs.
The next round of negotiations is scheduled for Friday-Sept. 5 in Mexico, and the U.S., Mexico and Canada ended the first round with a joint statement saying they're committed to wrapping up the negotiations quickly with a far-reaching deal.
Information for this article was contributed by Margaret Talev Erik Wasson, Jennifer Epstein and Anna Edney of Bloomberg News; and staff members of The Associated Press.
A Section on 08/28/2017