Donald Trump on Wednesday said that Mexico is footing the bill for his proposed border wall no matter what.
“Who’s going to pay for the wall?” he asked host Sean Hannity during a Fox News town hall in Pittsburgh. “They’ll pay, in one form or another. They may even write us a check when it’s said and done.”
{mosads}Trump said that he would aim at completing the potential barrier in two years if he wins the White House.
“It will be complete two years from the time we start,” the GOP presidential front-runner said. “We’ll start very quickly. You’re going to always want the wall.”
Trump also said that Mexican leadership takes advantage of America by not addressing its neighbor’s concerns.
“Mexico could stop 90 percent of the problems just by being tough, but they don’t want to be,” the billionaire said. “Their leaders are too smart and cunning for ours. We have people who are incompetent running our country.”
Trump added that China and Mexico hurt the U.S. economy through currency manipulation and outsourcing.
“Mexico is becoming the new China; we’ve got to stop it,” he said. “Do you know how many millions of jobs have been taken out of our country? What they’re doing with the devaluations of their currencies is just unbelievable.”
Reports emerged last week that Trump would force Mexico into paying for a wall along its border with America by blocking money transfers to the country from immigrants in the U.S. A Trump administration would drop the threat for a “one-time payment of $5–10 billion” for the structure’s construction.
The Washington Post reported last week that Mexicans living abroad sent nearly $25 billion in so-called remittances into their home country last year. Trump has repeatedly estimated that a wall along Mexico’s border with the U.S. would cost approximately $8 billion.