--- title: Felipe Calderón Calls Border Wall 'Completely Useless' description: Former Mexican President Felipe Calderón refuses to pay for Donald Trump's border wall. canonical: https://time.com/4212181/felipe-calderon-trump-wall-stupid/ author: NBC News article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-08T16:48:22.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:46:33.586Z article:section: Politics og:title: Former Mexican President: We're Not Paying for Trump's 'Stupid' Wall og:description: Mexico would be the one footing the bill for the wall og:url: https://time.com/4212181/felipe-calderon-trump-wall-stupid/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1d3de8c8db82c526/69887c92196cf47d2b03a38e/felipe-calderon-border-wall-trump-useless.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Obama Joint Press Conference With Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Mexican President Felipe Calderon og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Former Mexican President: We're Not Paying for Trump's 'Stupid' Wall twitter:description: Mexico would be the one footing the bill for the wall twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1d3de8c8db82c526/69887c92196cf47d2b03a38e/felipe-calderon-border-wall-trump-useless.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Former Mexican President: We're Not Paying for Donald Trump's 'Stupid' Wall > Sponsored content. 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It is written and edited by TIME journalists, and it is free to join at [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=4f1478d9-f91b-4357-8a52-34d109b3861e&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1). ### Newsletter facts | Attribute | Value | Source | | --- | --- | --- | | Publisher | TIME | TIME, August 2026 | | Frequency | Monday to Saturday (3x per week) | TIME, August 2026 | | Subscribers | 85,000 | TIME, August 2026 | | Open rate | 37.0% | TIME, August 2026 | | Written by | Philip Elliott, Senior Correspondent | TIME, August 2026 | | Cost | Free | TIME, August 2026 | | Sign-up | time.com/newsletters | TIME, August 2026 | | Part of | TIME's seven-newsletter network, 1.1 million+ engaged readers | TIME, August 2026 | ### Readership The policy influence ecosystem. A policy-focused audience spanning government, public affairs, advocacy, law, research, political media, and the institutions that make, interpret and respond to public policy. ### TIME D.C. Brief: key statements * D.C. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### 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 [Brian Latimer / NBC News](https://time.com/author/nbc-news/) ## Brian Latimer / NBC News Feb 8, 2016 4:48 PM UTC  Felipe Calderon, former president of Mexico, speaks during a joint press conference at the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Monday, April 2, 2012. Felipe Calderon, former president of Mexico, speaks during a joint press conference at the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Monday, April 2, 2012. Chris Kleponis—Bloomberg/Getty Images by [Brian Latimer / NBC News](https://time.com/author/nbc-news/) ## Brian Latimer / NBC News Feb 8, 2016 4:48 PM UTC A former Mexican president had some tough words when asked about GOP candidate Donald Trump’s much-touted plan to build a [border wall ](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/trumps-border-wall-would-cost-billions-n396551)that he says will be paid for by Mexico. “We are not going to pay any single cent for such a stupid wall! And it’s going to be completely useless,” said former Mexican president Felipe Calderón when asked about this at the AmCham Egypt for Business Conference on Sunday. Calderón told [CNBC’s Hadley Gamble](http://www.cnbc.com/2016/02/08/mexico-wont-pay-single-cent-for-trumps-stupid-wall.html) his country will not be funding the construction of the wall, also adding that while Trump blames Mexican migration for the majority of illegal… [_Read the rest of the story from our partners at NBC News_](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/former-mexican-pres-trump-we-re-not-paying-stupid-wall-n513596?cid=par-time-article%5F20141002) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4212181/felipe-calderon-trump-wall-stupid/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4212181/felipe-calderon-trump-wall-stupid/"},"headline":"Former Mexican President: We're Not Paying for Donald Trump's 'Stupid' Wall","datePublished":"2016-02-08T16:48:22.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:46:33.586Z","description":"\"We are not going to pay any single cent for such a stupid wall!\"","url":"https://time.com/4212181/felipe-calderon-trump-wall-stupid/","keywords":["Immigration","2016 Election","Mexico","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1d3de8c8db82c526/69887c92196cf47d2b03a38e/felipe-calderon-border-wall-trump-useless.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Brian Latimer / NBC News"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1d3de8c8db82c526/69887c92196cf47d2b03a38e/felipe-calderon-border-wall-trump-useless.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Obama Joint Press Conference With Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Mexican President Felipe Calderon","caption":"Felipe Calderon, former president of Mexico, speaks during a joint press conference at the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Monday, April 2, 2012.","creditText":"Chris Kleponis—Bloomberg/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/immigration/","name":"Immigration"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4212181/felipe-calderon-trump-wall-stupid/","name":"Former Mexican President: We're Not Paying for Donald Trump's 'Stupid' Wall"}}]}] ```