--- title: Donald Trump's Border Wall to Cost Up to $15B: Paul Ryan description: President Donald Trump’s border wall with Mexico will have an initial price tag of between $12 billion and $15 billion, Republicans say canonical: https://time.com/4650229/donald-trump-border-wall-cost-paul-ryan/ author: Sam Frizell article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-01-26T15:50:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:59:08.236Z article:section: Politics og:title: Paul Ryan Says President Trump’s Border Wall Would Cost Up to $15 Billion og:description: Republicans have not agreed on how to fund construction; Trump still wants Mexico to pay og:url: https://time.com/4650229/donald-trump-border-wall-cost-paul-ryan/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt69f43d1928892ebc/6988b75fcf40a81a9ec46369/paul-ryan-wall-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Congress Republicans Retreat og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Paul Ryan Says President Trump’s Border Wall Would Cost Up to $15 Billion twitter:description: Republicans have not agreed on how to fund construction; Trump still wants Mexico to pay twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt69f43d1928892ebc/6988b75fcf40a81a9ec46369/paul-ryan-wall-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Paul Ryan Says President Trump’s Border Wall Would Cost Up to $15 Billion > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Jan 26, 2017 3:50 PM UTC  House Speaker Paul Ryan accompanied by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell speaks with members of the media during a news conference at the Republican congressional retreat in Philadelphia, on Jan. 26, 2017. House Speaker Paul Ryan accompanied by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell speaks with members of the media during a news conference at the Republican congressional retreat in Philadelphia, on Jan. 26, 2017. Matt Rourke—AP by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Jan 26, 2017 3:50 PM UTC [President Donald Trump](http://time.com/4646273/donald-trump-wall-mexico-border-immigration/)’s [border wall with Mexico](http://time.com/4646273/donald-trump-wall-mexico-border-immigration/?iid=sr-link1) will have an initial price tag of between $12 billion and $15 billion, according to Congressional Republican leaders, but the method of paying for Trump’s [promised project](http://time.com/4648921/president-trump-hopes-construction-on-border-wall-can-start-in-months/?iid=sr-link2) is still not settled. At the Congressional Republican Retreat in Philadelphia on Thursday, House Speaker Paul Ryan said the wall would cost up to $15 billion, more than the $8 billion Trump has estimated the wall will cost. Trump vowed on the campaign trail to make Mexico pay for the wall, but [Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto](http://time.com/4649468/mexico-president-cancel-washington-trip-border-wall/?iid=sr-link7) insisted on Wednesday that Mexico would never pay for the wall. In an interview Wednesday night with ABC, Trump repeated his claim that Mexico would reimburse the U.S. “Ultimately it’ll come out of what’s happening with Mexico,” Trump said. “It will be in a form, perhaps a complicated form.” ### One Photographer Traveled the Full Length of the U.S. Border With Mexico  A U.S. Border Patrol agent removes a ladder used by undocumented immigrants to climb a border fence on Oct. 18, 2016 near McAllen, Texas. John Moore—Getty Images  U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents fly near the U.S.-Mexico border while on helicopter patrol on Oct. 18, 2016 near McAllen, Texas. John Moore—Getty Images  A U.S. Border Patrol agent detains a group of undocumented immigrants on Oct. 18, 2016 near McAllen, Texas. John Moore—Getty Images  People stand in line to cross legally into the United States from Mexico on Sept. 24, 2016 in Tijuana, Mexico. John Moore—Getty Images  The Rio Grande forms a stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border on Oct. 15, 2016 in the Big Bend region of West Texas near Lajitas, Texas. Big Bend is a rugged, vast and remote region along the U.S.-Mexico border and includes the Big Bend National Park. John Moore—Getty Images  U.S. Border Patrol agents with a K-9 unit detain undocumented immigrants after they illegally crossed the U.S.-Mexico border on Oct. 18, 2016, in McAllen, Texas. John Moore—Getty Images  This photo made with a smart phone through night vision goggles shows the Rio Grande flowing along the U.S.-Mexico border, as seen from a U.S. Customs and Border Protection helicopter during a patrol over the U.S.-Mexico border on Oct. 18, 2016 in McAllen, Texas. John Moore—Getty Images  The moon rises over the swirling current of the Rio Grande on Oct. 15, 2016 in the Big Bend region of West Texas near Lajitas, Texas. John Moore—Getty Images  A bullet-proof shield stands to aid U.S. Border Patrol agents on the U.S.-Mexico border on Oct. 3, 2016 in El Paso, Texas. John Moore—Getty Images  A child plays in the Pacific surf near the U.S.-Mexico border fence on Sept. 25, 2016 in Tijuana, Mexico. The nearby Friendship Park is one of the few places on the 2,000-mile border where separated families are allowed to meet. John Moore—Getty Images  Dunes stretch into the distance near the U.S.-Mexico border on Sept. 27, 2016 in the Imperial Sand Dunes recreation area, California. John Moore—Getty Images  Mexican farm workers hoe a cabbage field on Sept. 27, 2016, in Holtville, Calif. Thousands of Mexican seasonal workers legally cross over daily from Mexicali, Mexico to work the fields of Imperial Valley, Calif., which is some of the most productive farmland in the United States. John Moore—Getty Images  A man looks through the U.S.-Mexico border fence into the United States on Septt. 25, 2016 in Tijuana, Mexico. John Moore—Getty Images  A Studebaker sits outside a cotton field near the U.S.-Mexico border on Oct. 14, 2016 near Fort Hancock, Texas. John Moore—Getty Images  Bodies of suspected undocumented immigrants lie in the morgue at the Office of the Pima County Medical Examiner on Sept. 29, 2016 in Tucson, Ariz. Hundreds of migrants die every year in the desert while crossing illegally from Mexico into the United States. John Moore—Getty Images  Personal effects found on the body of a suspected undocumented immigrant are stored at the Office of the Pima County Medical Examiner on Sept. 29, 2016 in Tucson, Ariz. John Moore—Getty Images  Dinner tables await immigrants, many of them deportees from the United States, at the Casa del Migrante Sept. 23, 2016 in Tijuana, Mexico. The shelter, run by Catholic priests, is part of the Coalicion Pro Defensa, which aids immigrants and asylum applicants seeking entry into the United States. The coalition of immigrant advocates has helped thousands of migrants on their journey north and many more after being being deported from the United States. John Moore—Getty Images  Mexicans enjoy a late afternoon near the U.S.-Mexico border fence, which ends in the Pacific Ocean, on Sept. 25, 2016 in Tijuana, Mexico. Friendship Park, located on the border between the two countries is one of the few places on the 2,000-mile border where separated families are allowed to meet. John Moore—Getty Images Speaker Ryan did not respond to a shouted question about offsetting the cost of the wall in the federal budget. “We are fiscal conservatives,” Ryan said. “If we are going to be spending on things, say infrastructure, we are going to find the fiscal space to pay for that in our spring budget.” Trump signed two executive orders on Wednesday directing the construction of the border wall and increasing the number of immigration enforcement officers carrying out deportation, as well as border patrol forces. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4650229/donald-trump-border-wall-cost-paul-ryan/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4650229/donald-trump-border-wall-cost-paul-ryan/"},"headline":"Paul Ryan Says President Trump’s Border Wall Would Cost Up to $15 Billion","datePublished":"2017-01-26T15:50:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:59:08.236Z","description":"Republicans have not agreed on how to fund construction; Trump still wants Mexico to pay","url":"https://time.com/4650229/donald-trump-border-wall-cost-paul-ryan/","keywords":["Congress","White House","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt69f43d1928892ebc/6988b75fcf40a81a9ec46369/paul-ryan-wall-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sam Frizell","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt69f43d1928892ebc/6988b75fcf40a81a9ec46369/paul-ryan-wall-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Congress Republicans Retreat","caption":"Congress Republicans Retreat","creditText":"Matt Rourke—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/congress/","name":"Congress"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4650229/donald-trump-border-wall-cost-paul-ryan/","name":"Paul Ryan Says President Trump’s Border Wall Would Cost Up to $15 Billion"}}]}] ```