Donald Trump urged Mexican president to stop saying he wouldn't pay for the wall

Donald Trump on the phone in the Oval Office - REUTERS
Donald Trump on the phone in the Oval Office - REUTERS

President Donald Trump urged the president of Mexico to stop saying publicly that his country would not pay for a proposed border wall between the two countries.

The revelation came as a transcripts of early phone calls between Mr Trump and Enrique Pena Nieto was leaked to the Washington Post.

Also leaked was an early heated conversation between Mr Trump and Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull in which Mr Trump said "I've had it."

It was a cornerstone pledge of Mr Trump's campaign that a border wall would be built between the US and Mexico, and that Mexcio would pay for it.

Addressing Mr Pena Nieto in a phone call on Jan 27 Mr Trump indicated he knew the funding for the wall would have to come from elsewhere.

But he told the Mexican president: “You cannot say that to the press."

Pena Nieto - Credit: Mexico Government
Enrique Pena Nieto Credit: Mexico Government

He said the funding "will work out in the formula somehow. It will come out in the wash, and that is OK.

"If you are going to say that Mexico is not going to pay for the wall, then I do not want to meet with you guys anymore because I cannot live with that.”

He said the wall was “the least important thing we are talking about but politically this might be the most important".

In his call with Mr Turnbull the following day the two men argued about refugees.

Mr Trump then said: "I have had it. I have been making these calls all day, and this is the most unpleasant call all day.”

He added: "Putin was a pleasant call. This is ridiculous."

Mr Trump told Mr Pena Nieto: "I have to have Mexico pay for the wall. I have to. I have been talking about it for a two-year period.”

He then asked the Mexican president to play down the issue.

Mr Trump said: “We should both say ‘We will work it out.’ As opposed to you saying, ‘We will not pay,’ and me saying, ‘We will not  pay.’ "

Mr Peña Nieto refused to agree and said Mr Trump had placed “a very big mark on our back".

He said: "It is an issue related to the dignity of Mexico and goes to the national pride of my country.”

However, he did agree to “stop talking about the wall,” the Washington Post reported.

Mr Trump said he could "build very inexpensively and it will be a better wall and it will look nice.” 

The President added that the US state of New Hampshire had become a "drug-infested den" and that's why he won it in the election.

Turnbull - Credit: Reuters
Malcolm Turnbull Credit: Reuters

In fact, Mr Trump did not win New Hampshire, Hillary Clinton did by 0.3 per cent.

Mr Trump said: “We have a massive drug problem where kids are becoming addicted to drugs because the drugs are being sold for  less money than candy.

"I won New Hampshire because New Hampshire is a drug-infested den."

He also threatened to put tariffs of up to 35 per cent on Mexican goods coming to the US.

The transcripts were marked as classified, the Washington Post reported.

Mr Trump began his call with Mr Turnbull by asking abut the Australian golfer Greg Norman, who he knows.

He then discussed Australia's policy against refugees arriving by boat and told Mr Turnbull: "It;s a good idea. We should do that too. You are worse than I am."

The conversation then degenerated into a disagreement over the deal for the US to accept some refugees from Australia.

Mr Trump said: “I hate taking these people. I guarantee you they are bad. That is why they are in prison right now. They are not going to be wonderful people who go on to work for the local milk people."

He said they could  “become the Boston bomber in five years".

Mr Turnbull responded that a "deal is a deal" but Mr Trump said: "As far as I am concerned that is enough Malcolm. I have had it."