US President Trump will make Mexico pay for US$25 billion wall through ‘additional revenue stream’, source says

The plan aides are piecing together would force the southern neighbour to pay for the structure in indirect ways, including through remittance fees and tapping Mexico’s trade surplus with the United States

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President Donald Trump has said he plans to make Mexico pay for the wall directly or indirectly. Photo: AP

Published: 10:30pm, 7 Feb 2018Updated: 10:33pm, 7 Feb 2018

Mexico will never cut a check to the US Treasury, but President Donald Trump is zeroing in on a plan so that the president can argue America’s southern neighbour will indeed fund the border wall, according to multiple sources familiar with the discussions.

The plan aides are piecing together would force Mexico to pay for the wall in indirect ways, including through remittance fees and tapping Mexico’s trade surplus with the United States.

“He will find a way,” said a former Trump adviser who is in close contact with the White House. “The wall will be funded partially or all by an additional revenue stream.”

Publicly, the priority is getting the US$25 billion or so that Trump says is needed to fund the wall as part of a package deal that would protect so-called Dreamers and reduce family migration. Privately, the White House is mulling over various proposals to ensure US taxpayers are reimbursed for the wall’s initial costs – or at least some of the price tag.

While Trump’s team has not reached a consensus, leading proposals include adding a small percentage fee on money sent by individuals in the United States to recipients in Mexico. Another is directing a surplus in revenue from a revised trade agreement with Mexico and Canada. White House Director of Legislative Affairs Marc Short has also spoken favourably of a proposal presented by Republican members of Congress to have foreign tech workers, though largely not Mexican, pay for part of the wall, according to a US source familiar with the conversations.