Mexico government says it won't pay for Trump's border wall

The Mexican government has made his first direct response to Donald Trump's pledge to build a wall along the two countries' border and make Mexico pay for it.

Mexican Treasury Secretary Luis Videgaray says "emphatically and categorically" that it isn't going to foot the bill for the project proposed by the Republican presidential hopeful.

Videgaray told Milenio television late Wednesday that "Mexico will under no circumstance pay for the wall that Mr. Trump is proposing."

The wall proposal has been criticized widely and fiercely in Mexico, but the government itself has tried to avoid commenting directly on the issue until now.

Trump is leading the Republican presidential contenders and has used especially tough talk on immigration.