US President Donald Trump has said his concept of a wall along the US border with Mexico "has never changed or evolved," contradicting comments made by his chief of staff.
White House chief of staff John Kelly told Hispanic politicians during a meeting yesterday that some of Mr Trump's immigration views during the campaign were "uninformed," according to reports in the Washington Post and New York Times.
Mr Kelly elaborated in an interview later with Fox News, saying that the Republican president's views "have evolved."
In an apparent rebuke of Mr Kelly, Mr Trump wrote on Twitter: "The Wall is the Wall, it has never changed or evolved from the first day I conceived of it."
He also said some parts of the wall will be "see through" without elaborating, and later described Mexico as the "number one most dangerous country in the world".
The Wall is the Wall, it has never changed or evolved from the first day I conceived of it. Parts will be, of necessity, see through and it was never intended to be built in areas where there is natural protection such as mountains, wastelands or tough rivers or water.....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 18, 2018
....The Wall will be paid for, directly or indirectly, or through longer term reimbursement, by Mexico, which has a ridiculous $71 billion dollar trade surplus with the U.S. The $20 billion dollar Wall is "peanuts" compared to what Mexico makes from the U.S. NAFTA is a bad joke!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 18, 2018
The border wall stands at the centre of a congressional struggle to overhaul immigration before the March expiration of a programme protecting so-called "Dreamers" - immigrants who were brought to the country illegally as children.
Mr Trump wants any deal to include funding for the wall, which Democrats oppose and is expected to cost more than $20 billion.
We need the Wall for the safety and security of our country. We need the Wall to help stop the massive inflow of drugs from Mexico, now rated the number one most dangerous country in the world. If there is no Wall, there is no Deal!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 18, 2018
During the campaign, Mr Trump supporters cheered when he loudly promised a barrier along the 3,200km US-Mexico frontier to keep out drug smugglers and undocumented immigrants and have Mexico pay for it.
Since taking office, he has acknowledged there were geographical barriers such as mountains and rivers along the border where a wall would not be necessary.
"The Wall will be paid for, directly or indirectly, or through longer term reimbursement, by Mexico, which has a ridiculous $71 billion dollar trade surplus with the US," Mr Trump said tweeted today.
Mr Kelly told Fox News in an interview yesterday that the administration was considering visa fees and a renegotiation of NAFTA as ways to get revenue from Mexico.
Yesterday, Mr Trump said that terminating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) would result in the "best deal" to revamp the 24-year-old trade pact with Canada and Mexico in favour of US interests.
"We're renegotiating NAFTA now. We'll see what happens. I may terminate NAFTA," Mr Trump said in an interview with Reuters.
"A lot of people are going to be unhappy if I terminate NAFTA. A lot of people don't realise how good it would be to terminate NAFTA because the way you're going to make the best deal is to terminate NAFTA. But people would like to see me not do that," he said.
Mr Trump's comments come less than a week before trade negotiators from the United States, Canada and Mexico meet in Montreal for the sixth of seven scheduled rounds of negotiations to update NAFTA.
The talks are viewed as pivotal for the success of the NAFTA renegotiation effort because major differences remain overaggressive US demands on autos, dispute settlement and a five-year sunset clause - proposals that some business groups have labeled "fatal."
Mr Trump's comments appeared to validate concerns voiced last week by Canadian government sources that the US president, now a year in office, looked increasingly likely to announce a pullout from NAFTA.
Mexico's foreign ministry has reiterated that the country will not pay for the construction of the wall under any circumstances.
The ministry also pushed back against Mr Trump's assertion that Mexico is "the number one most dangerous country in the world."
"Even though Mexico has a significant problem with violence, it is plainly false that Mexico is the most dangerous country in the world," the ministry said in a statement.
