Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto has slammed his US counterpart Donald Trump's decision to order a wall to be built along the length of the Mexican border.
"I regret and condemn the decision of the US government to continue with the building of a border which for years has divided us more than it has united us," he said in a televised address.
"I've said it time and time again: Mexico will not pay for the wall," he added, despite Trump's continued insistence that Mexico would fund the project.
"Mexico gives and demands the respect it is due as a sovereign nation," Pena Nieto said.
Many Mexicans had called on their president to cancel a planned visit to the US next week to protest the US move, but Pena Nieto made no mention of the trip in his address.
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However Mexico's foreign minister Luis Videgaray said the summit between Trump and Nieto is still on "for now".
"The meeting between the two presidents in Washington next Tuesday is still confirmed," Videgaray said. "The meeting, for now, is going forward," he said.
The timing of Trump's signing of the order has been viewed by many in Mexico as an insult, coming as it did during a visit to Washington by Videgaray and Economy Secretary Ildefonso Guajardo. E
