The mayor of Berlin has warned Donald Trump against repeating the “slavery and suffering” experienced by his own city with his planned Mexican border wall.

Michael Müller urged the new US President to remember his predecessor Ronald Regan’s famous appeal to “tear down” the communist-era Berlin Wall, adding: “Dear Mr President, don’t build this wall!”

He cited barriers in Korea and Cyprus as modern examples of the Iron Curtain that divided millions of Europeans during the Cold War.

Donald Trump wants import tax to pay for Mexico wall

“Berlin cannot look on without comment when a country plans to build a new wall,” Mr Müller said.

“We Berliners know best how much suffering the division of an entire continent, cemented by barbed wire and wall, has caused.”

The mayor said the destruction of the wall in 1989 was one of the most important moments of the 20th Century, and that such recent historical experiences must not be disregarded “particularly by those to whom we in large part owe our freedom, the Americans”.

“I appeal to the President of the United States not to go the way of isolation and exclusion,” he added.

The fall of the Berlin Wall – in pictures Show all 10 1 /10 The fall of the Berlin Wall – in pictures The fall of the Berlin Wall – in pictures The fall of the Berlin Wall – 25 years on East German border guards stand on a section of the Berlin wall in front of the Brandenburg gate on November 11, 1989 AFP/Getty The fall of the Berlin Wall – in pictures The fall of the Berlin Wall – 25 years on Cars line up at the Pomezy border station, on November 5, 1989 as East German refugees cross the border to West Germany AFP/Getty The fall of the Berlin Wall – in pictures The fall of the Berlin Wall – 25 years on East German refugees penned behind barriers outside the West German embassy wait for the buses to take them to the railway station to leave Prague on 4th October 1989 AFP/Getty The fall of the Berlin Wall – in pictures The fall of the Berlin Wall – 25 years on Thousands of young East Berliners gather at the Berlin Wall, near the Brandenburg Gate on November 11, 1989 AFP/Getty The fall of the Berlin Wall – in pictures The fall of the Berlin Wall – 25 years on East Berliners climb onto the Berlin Wall to celebrate the effective end of the city's partition, 31st December 1989 Getty The fall of the Berlin Wall – in pictures The fall of the Berlin Wall – 25 years on A replica of a watchtower of the former German Democratic Republic (GDR) on display in the "Potsdamer Platz Arkaden" shopping mall in Berlin where an exhibition titled "25 Years of the Fall of the Berlin Wall" has been staged AFP/Getty The fall of the Berlin Wall – in pictures The fall of the Berlin Wall – 25 years on Berliners from East and West celebrate at the Brandenburg Gate in December 1989 AFP/Getty The fall of the Berlin Wall – in pictures The fall of the Berlin Wall – 25 years on East German drivers queue at the Schirnding border crossing into Czecho-slovakia five days before the fall of the Berlin EPA The fall of the Berlin Wall – in pictures The fall of the Berlin Wall – 25 years on The Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, watched by his wife Raisa, right, kisses his East German counterpart Erich Honecker in East Berlin in October 1989 AP The fall of the Berlin Wall – in pictures The fall of the Berlin Wall – 25 years on Police from both sides stand idly by as the Berlin Wall is breached for the first time between East and West, at the Sandkrug Bridge crossing-point on Invaliden Strasse, in November 1989 AFP/Getty

Berlin was divided from 1961 by a wall constructed by the communist dictatorship in East Germany to stop its citizens from escaping to the West, becoming a potent symbol of Cold War oppression.

Mr Trump is aiming to fulfil his headline campaign promise by ordering American officials to begin designing and constructing a barrier along the 2,000 mile US-Mexico border.

Mexico has refused demands to pay for the project, causing the White House to threaten new taxes on Mexican imports to cover its cost, and President Enrique Pena Nieto to cancel a planned Washington visit in protest.