Mexico hails U.S. idea to make drug cartels fund border wall

PanARMENIAN.Net - Mexico welcomed on Monday, January 30 a senior U.S. official's suggestion that drug cartels could pay for a controversial border wall, but the idea raised eyebrows in local media, AFP reports.

U.S. President Donald Trump has angered Mexico by insisting that he will make the country pay for a massive barrier along the border, though he has yet to specify exactly how.

White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus said Sunday there was a "buffet of options" to fund the wall along the 2,000-mile (3,200-kilometer) border.

"There is no final conclusion on exactly how this wall is going to be paid for by the Mexican government," he told CBS's "Face the Nation."

"It can either be through a tax on goods coming across the border. It be through tax reform and a formula on import and export taxes and credits. It could be on drug cartels. And it could be on people that are coming here illegally and paying fines. Or it could be all of the above."

Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan has estimated the wall's cost at between $12 and $15 billion.

Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray, who was in Washington last week for talks with U.S. officials, welcomed the suggestion that cartels pay for the wall.

"It's undoubtedly positive progress that they are talking about someone that is not Mexico. Narcos are not Mexico," Videgaray told the Televisa network.

"It's a signal that -- at least that's how I interpret it -- must be welcomed because we are already seeing how the discussion is changing."

Videgaray said Mexican and U.S. officials could meet in the next few days.