Mexico's ambassador to the U.S. is warning President-elect Trump that building a wall on the southwestern U.S. border would hurt the environment.

"We fear that there is going to be consequences regarding environmental issues," Carlos Manuel Sada Solana, Mexico's ambassador to the U.S., said in an interview with the Arizona Republic. "It's also going to be sending a very negative message. What we say is we like to build bridges."

Mexico has resisted Trump's proposal, and continues to reject Trump's demand that Mexico should be forced to pay for the wall. Sada reiterated that stance, and encouraged Trump to see Mexico as a partner, not an enemy.

"We have said time and again Mexico is not paying for the wall," he said. "That is something that has been said several times by the president of Mexico, the secretary of foreign affairs, secretary of economy, the secretary of finance. So we are not paying for the wall."

Trump said after an August meeting with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto that the two "didn't discuss" who would pay for the multibillion dollar project, but claimed Pena Nieto "acknowledged" that the wall would be built.

But Pena Nieto's tweet contrasted Trump's claim. He tweeted, "At the beginning of the conversation with Donald Trump I made it clear that Mexico will not pay for the wall."

Sada on Wednesday warned that if the Trump administration forces Mexico to pay for the border wall by trying to tax remittances, there are "legal issues" at stake. "[I]f that is one of the alternatives, we will find out what we have to do in that case. But this is not a deliberate action for Mexico to pay for the wall," he said.