President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the United States won’t “destroy” the country by building a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, instead calling for a better way to “secure the border” and to help farmers, ranchers and other businesses.
“I don’t want to destroy this country,” Trump said at a news conference in Washington.
“I want to secure it.
I want to protect it.
But we don’t need to destroy the country.”
Trump was referring to the United Nations Security Council resolution condemning the construction of a wall along the border, which Trump has said he will sign.
Trump said he would “love” to have a wall, but would not commit to a wall that will destroy the nation.
The resolution was passed by the Security Council in February after months of meetings in which the United Kingdom, France, Germany, the United Arab Emirates, and Russia opposed the wall and other measures.
Trump’s administration has said it will not make the wall, and instead is building a border fence along a riverbed, with an eventual goal of having it extend into Mexico.
“We’re building a big wall and we’re not building it in the border,” Trump told reporters Tuesday.
“We’re not going to destroy Mexico, we’re going to secure the border.
And we have to secure that border.”
Trump has said that he plans to build a wall in the United State of America, with funding and personnel for it coming from Mexico.
The United Nations estimates the cost of building a $1.6 billion barrier along the southern border to be about $25 billion.
Mexico’s government has expressed concern about the United U.N. resolution, and the United Nation Security Council passed a resolution on Monday reaffirming its support for the resolution.
It said it was in the “national interest” to “reassure” its member states that the resolution is not in conflict with the UN resolution.
Mexico’s Foreign Minister Carlos Pascual said the resolution will “serve as a reminder of the fundamental principles of international law” and “will enable the world community to work to resolve the issue in accordance with the norms of international relations.”
“The United States cannot and will not become a signatory to this resolution,” Pascu said in a statement.
“This is an international agreement and the U