Trump says he had ‘very good’ call with Mexico’s Pena Nieto

“Much of it is then been sent back, and much of it goes back to other countries, and oftentimes because they don’t respect us, the other countries will not accept the criminals that we send back to them that are illegally in our country”, Trump said.

Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday authorizing construction of the wall, which he has insisted Mexico will pay for.

Slim, who traveled to Florida for a meeting with Trump in December, told reporters that Trump was indeed a “great negotiator”, but that the Mexican people should not be afraid of him.

A second, likely more serious issue, is imposing a 20-percent tax on imports from Mexico would violate USA commitments under both NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) and the WTO (World Trade Organization).

His decision comes a day after the new US president unveiled his plan to build a wall along the Mexico-US border. Pena Nieto took to Twitter on Thursday to announce that he was cancelling the visit to meet Trump.

“This morning we have informed the White House I will not attend the working meeting planned for next Tuesday”, Mr Pena Nieto tweeted.

Hours later, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto demanded “respect” for his country in a nationally televised address. “The presidents also agreed at this point not to speak publicly about this controversial issue”, the statement continued.

The United States could “easily pay for the wall just through that mechanism alone”.

Spicer later noted the tariff idea was one of several possible ways to pay for the wall, which could cost between $12 and $15 billion.

“Far from uniting us, it divides us”, he said.

“That would effectively saddle US consumers with a significant portion of the wall’s cost, estimated at $15 billion or more”, NPR’s Scott Horsley reported.

Trump’s anti-immigration wall was one of the first promises of his presidential campaign.

On Wednesday, the mercurial US leader ordered officials to begin to “plan, design and construct a physical wall” along the 2,000-mile (3,200-kilometer) US-Mexico border. But many Mexicans regard it as an insult, and the rough terrain and stretches of private property along the border could make building the wall a long and complicated project.