--- description: Donald Trump said at a press conference on Wednesday that he wants to "get the wall started" on the border of Mexico and the U.S. title: Donald Trump Says He Wants to Get the Border Wall With Mexico Started image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt14699b180a0e203a/6988b51eab6d771fc86ac6f4/donald-trump4.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Politics](/section/politics/) ## Politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [2016 Election](/tag/2016-election/) ## 2016 Election Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Donald Trump Says He Wants to Get the Border Wall With Mexico Started by [Sarah Begley](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 11, 2017 5:33 PM CUT  President-elect Trump speaks during a news conference in the lobby of Trump Tower in New York City, on Jan. 11, 2017. President-elect Trump speaks during a news conference in the lobby of Trump Tower in New York City, on Jan. 11, 2017.Evan Vucci—AP by [Sarah Begley](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 11, 2017 5:33 PM CUT [Donald Trump ](http://time.com/4631597/donald-trump-business-separation/ "undefined")said at a [press conference](http://time.com/4631551/donald-trump-press-conference-russia-ethics-transcript/ "undefined") on Wednesday that he wants to “get the wall started” on the border of Mexico and the U.S., and that he believes Mexico “will reimburse us for the cost of the wall.” “We’re going to build a wall. I could wait about a year and a half until we start our negotiations with Mexico,” he said, but “I don’t feel like waiting a year and a half.” “I want to get the wall started. I don’t want wait a year and half to make a deal with Mexico.” Mexican President [Enrique Peña Nieto](http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/30/politics/donald-trump-enrique-pea-nieto-mexico/ "undefined") said in August that he “made it clear” in a conversation with Trump that Mexico “will not pay for the wall.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4631631/donald-trump-mexico-border-wall-press-conference/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4631631/donald-trump-mexico-border-wall-press-conference/"},"headline":"Donald Trump Says He Wants to Get the Border Wall With Mexico Started","datePublished":"2017-01-11T17:33:43.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T02:40:21.050Z","description":"And that Mexico will reimburse the U.S. for the cost of the wall","url":"https://time.com/4631631/donald-trump-mexico-border-wall-press-conference/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election topic"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt14699b180a0e203a/6988b51eab6d771fc86ac6f4/donald-trump4.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt14699b180a0e203a/6988b51eab6d771fc86ac6f4/donald-trump4.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Donald Trump","caption":"Donald Trump","creditText":"Evan Vucci—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4631631/donald-trump-mexico-border-wall-press-conference/","name":"Donald Trump Says He Wants to Get the Border Wall With Mexico Started"}}]}] ```