Kerry: Mexico won’t ‘pony up’ for Trump’s wall

Secretary of State John Kerry says Mexico will not foot the bill for President-elect Donald Trump’s proposed wall along its border with the U.S.

“They’ve said they’re not going to pay for it,” he told ABC News’s Martha Raddatz Friday. “They’re not going to voluntarily pony up and pay for something they disagree with.”

“I said voluntarily. I suppose you can create something and make a pretense that it’s them doing it. Let’s wait and see what other choices are made.”

{mosads}Trump said earlier Friday that taxpayer money will accelerate the construction of his proposed barrier along the nation’s southern border.

“[It is] in order to speed up the process,” he told The New York Times. “We’re going to get reimbursed. But I don’t want to wait that long. But you start, and then you get reimbursed.”

Trump added that he would most likely recoup U.S. tax dollars by renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with Mexico’s government.

“It’s going to be a part of everything,” he said. “We are going to be making a much better deal. It’s a deal that never should have been signed.”

Reports emerged Thursday that Trump’s team and GOP House lawmakers have begun discussing a plan to build the president-elect’s border wall using American tax dollars. Republican leaders purportedly hope to fund the project using the appropriations process as early as April.

Trump’s team is reportedly citing a 2006 law as authority for constructing the structure, but the funding for it remains unclear.

The measure in question — which was signed by former President George W. Bush — authorized a more than 700-mile “physical barrier” between the U.S. and Mexico. The law was never fully implemented, and lawmakers can resume where it left over as it never contained a sunset provision.

Trump previously pledged that Mexico would ultimately cover the wall’s cost, a promise he reiterated Friday.

“The dishonest media does not report that any money spent on building the Great Wall (for sake of speed), will be paid by Mexico later,” he tweeted.