GOP lawmaker: Mexico will pay ‘part of the tab’ for wall

A GOP lawmaker said on Friday that Mexico will end up paying for “part” of President Trump’s proposed southern border wall, saying it would be part of trade negotiations between the two nations.

Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-Va.) said on “New Day” on Friday that Mexico will pay “part of the tab” for the wall, pushing back on the CNN anchor’s insistence that Trump had backed down from his signature campaign promise for Mexico to foot the bill during private conversations with the Mexican president.

Trump threatened this week to allow the government to shut down if Congress doesn’t put up the money for the border wall.

“I don’t have any question that Mexico will pay at least part of the tab,” Griffith said. “It has to be a partnership, I have no doubt about that.”

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“They want to continue to have trade with these United States, and to bring their products north,” he added. “And that’s part of the negotiations between nation-states, and we’re going to work that out.” 

Griffith said that Congress has waited too long to act on border security, claiming there have been decades of congressional inaction.

“We’ve promised the American people, not just in the last campaign, we’ve promised the American people going back to the Reagan administration that we would secure our southern border,” Griffith said.

“We haven’t done it; it’s time for Congress to act.”

The Trump administration has made it clear that border security is one of its top priorities. Trump suggested at a rally in Phoenix on Tuesday that he would refuse to sign a government funding bill that didn’t include his cornerstone campaign promise.

“If we have to close down our government, we’re building that wall,” he said.

On Wednesday, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders confirmed that Trump was serious about his threat.

“The president has made no secret that this is a priority for him, and he continues to advocate for it and he’ll continue to make sure that we move forward to secure the border and secure our country,” Sanders told reporters.