白宫：川普有多种办法让墨西哥为边界墙出钱

The White House says President Donald Trump has a "buffet of options" on how to get Mexico to pay for the wall he wants to build along the U.S.-Mexican border.

Earlier Thursday, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer told reporters Trump wanted to slap a 20 percent tax on all imports from Mexico. He said the new tax would raise $10 billion a year and "easily pay for the wall." He also said the president discussed the idea with congressional leaders and wanted to include the measure in a comprehensive tax reform package that Congress would have to approve.

But later, the White House said the idea is just one of several options on the table for paying for a wall along the southern border. And it said Trump has yet to make a final decision about how the U.S. will recoup the costs of his proposed border wall.

U.S. taxpayers initially would foot the bill for the wall, which is expected to cost as much as $15 billion.

It is unclear what retaliatory steps Mexico could take if the border tax is approved, because exports to the U.S. are essential to the Mexican economy.

Earlier Thursday, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto cancelled next week's meeting with Trump in Washington after Trump said the talks should be called off if Mexico keeps insisting it will not pay for the wall.

白宫表示，川普总统有多种办法让墨西哥为修建美墨边界墙出钱。

白宫发言人斯派塞星期四早些时候说，川普总统将会向墨西哥征收20%的进口税。他说，新的税收政策将会带来一年100亿美元的收入，并能轻松支付修墙的费用。斯派塞又表示，川普总统与国会领导人讨论了这个提议，希望把这个措施加入需要国会批准的全面税务改革方案中。

不过后来白宫又说，这个提议只是支付修墙费用多种方案中的一种。白宫还说，川普总统还没有最后决定如何来弥补修建边界墙的这笔费用。

这笔高达150亿美元的费用最初可能由美国纳税人来买单。

目前还不清楚如果边界税的措施被批准，墨西哥会采取什么样的报复行动，因为向美国出口是墨西哥经济的重要来源。

墨西哥总统涅托星期四早些时候取消了下星期与川普在华盛顿的会晤，因为川普说，如果墨西哥坚持不出钱修建边界墙，会谈就不必举行了。