President Trump denied Thursday that he ever meant Mexico would directly pay for the border wall — despite his oft-repeated campaign promises, and memos that clearly show otherwise.

“When I said Mexico will pay for the wall in front of thousands and thousands of people, obviously they’re not going to write a check,” Trump told reporters before departing Washington for Texas, where he will tour the border.

“But they are paying for the wall indirectly many, many times over by the really great trade deal we just made.”

But the deal the Trump administration has reached with Mexico and Canada to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement has yet to be ratified by the Senate, and doesn’t require Mexico to pay up.

Then-candidate Trump’s campaign in 2016 sent a memo to the Washington Post in which it outlined Trump’s plan to get Mexico to cough up the bucks for the barrier.

“It’s an easy decision for Mexico,” the memo read. “Make a one-time payment of $5-10 billion to ensure that $24 billion continues to flow into their country year after year.”

The memo then goes on to list a day-by-day game plan to compel Mexico to pay the United States for construction of a border wall.

Trump on Thursday flew to Texas, where he will first participate in a roundtable on immigration and border security, then personally visit the Rio Grande.

The trip comes on Day 20 of the partial federal government shutdown, with neither Republicans nor Democrats yielding ground toward a compromise, and Trump continuing to invoke the specter of declaring a national emergency to secure funding for the wall.