--- title: Mitch McConnell: Mexico Won't Pay for Donald Trump's Wall description: "Uh, no," the Senate Majority Leader said unequivocally when asked about Donald Trump's plan for Mexico to pay for a border wall canonical: https://time.com/4696656/mitch-mcconnell-president-trump-mexico-wall/ author: Alana Abramson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-03-09T16:04:38.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T03:45:40.935Z article:section: Politics og:title: Mitch McConnell Doesn't Think Mexico Will Pay for President Trump's Border Wall og:description: "Uh, no," McConnell said in an interview og:url: https://time.com/4696656/mitch-mcconnell-president-trump-mexico-wall/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltffb5d28900de5798/6988bdb60a4a22fced9cd3c9/mcconnell-border-wall-no.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Speaks at a News Conference og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Mitch McConnell Doesn't Think Mexico Will Pay for President Trump's Border Wall twitter:description: "Uh, no," McConnell said in an interview twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltffb5d28900de5798/6988bdb60a4a22fced9cd3c9/mcconnell-border-wall-no.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Mitch McConnell Doesn't Think Mexico Will Pay for President Trump's Border Wall > 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 [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Mar 9, 2017 4:04 PM UTC  U.S. Senate Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell arrives at a news conference on Capitol Hill, February 17, 2017 in Washington, D.C. U.S. Senate Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell arrives at a news conference on Capitol Hill, February 17, 2017 in Washington, D.C. Alex Wong—Getty Images  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Mar 9, 2017 4:04 PM UTC [Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell](http://time.com/money/4678544/aca-town-halls-mcconnell-rose-mudd-perkins-video/) does not agree with [President Donald Trump](http://time.com/4696428/donald-trump-war-state-government/) that Mexico will help pay for a border wall. “Uh, no,” McConnell said at a [Politico Playbook interview](http://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/mexico-pays-for-border-wall-mitch-mcconnell-reacts-235865) on Thursday when asked if that was a possibility. McConnell noted he was in favor of border security, but he said that in some locations, a wall might not be the best option. House Speaker Paul Ryan estimated in January that the wall would[ cost between $12 and $15 million,](http://time.com/4650206/paul-ryan-congress-border-wall/) and that Congress would pay for it by the fall. Trump repeatedly said on the campaign trail that Mexico will pay for the wall he wants to install along the U.S.-Mexico border. [In an interview with ABC News](http://time.com/4648921/president-trump-hopes-construction-on-border-wall-can-start-in-months/) following his inauguration, he reiterated he expected Mexico to pay and said he wanted to start construction within months. [Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto](http://time.com/4650229/donald-trump-border-wall-cost-paul-ryan/) has insisted his country will not comply. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4696656/mitch-mcconnell-president-trump-mexico-wall/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4696656/mitch-mcconnell-president-trump-mexico-wall/"},"headline":"Mitch McConnell Doesn't Think Mexico Will Pay for President Trump's Border Wall","datePublished":"2017-03-09T16:04:38.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T03:45:40.935Z","description":"The Senate Majority Leader said he does not think Mexico will end up paying for wall along the U.S. border.","url":"https://time.com/4696656/mitch-mcconnell-president-trump-mexico-wall/","keywords":["Congress","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltffb5d28900de5798/6988bdb60a4a22fced9cd3c9/mcconnell-border-wall-no.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alana Abramson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltffb5d28900de5798/6988bdb60a4a22fced9cd3c9/mcconnell-border-wall-no.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Speaks at a News Conference","caption":"Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Speaks at a News Conference","creditText":"Alex Wong—Getty Images","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/4696656/mitch-mcconnell-president-trump-mexico-wall/","name":"Mitch McConnell Doesn't Think Mexico Will Pay for President Trump's Border Wall"}}]}] ```