Mexican ex-president: No, we won't pay for Trump's 'stupid wall'

Former Mexican President Felipe Calderon assailed Donald Trump's call to build a wall between his country and the United States and make Mexico pay for it as "stupid," calling the Republican candidate "not [a] very well-informed man" and "completely crazy."

"Mexican people, we are not going to pay any single cent for such a stupid wall," Calderon told CNBC in a recent interview. "And it's going to be completely useless."


The U.S. would stand to be the first loser of such a wall, said Calderon, who served as president of Mexico from 2006 to 2012.

"If this guy pretends that closing the borders to anywhere either for trade [or] for people is going to provide prosperity to the United States, he is completely crazy," Calderon said.

During his campaign launch last June, Trump made a point of emphasizing the role that border security and immigration would play in his campaign, pointing to Mexico as one country where [t]hey're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people."

"It is incredible that a quite admirable society like the American society could produce such kind of candidates," Calderon continued. "I cannot understand that. No offense, no offense to America. So Donald Trump … is ambitious but not exactly [a] very well-informed man. I don't want to say ignorant, but he is not very well informed."

Trump responded Monday on MSNBC, insisting that Calderon was wrong. “He’ll pay. Trust me, he’ll pay,” Trump said. “We have such a trade imbalance with Mexico. We have such a trade deficit. The wall is peanuts compared to that number.”