Trump to cut money flow to Mexico if his wall is not paid for

US Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump aims to compel Mexico to pay for a giant border wall by threatening to block money transfers of billions of dollars by Mexican immigrants.

In a two-page memo to The Washington Post on Tuesday, Trump outlined for the first time how he would seek to force Mexico to pay for his 1,000-mile border fence, saying he would threaten to change a rule under the USA Patriot Act anti-terrorism law to cut off a portion of the funds sent to Mexico through money transfers.

The threat would be withdrawn if Mexico made “a one-time payment of $5-10 billion” to pay for the border wall, trump said

"It's an easy decision for Mexico," he said, adding that, after the wall is funded, transfer payments could continue "to flow into their country year after year."

The Post said the feasibility of Trump's plan was unclear both legally and politically, and that the idea could decimate the Mexican economy and set up an unprecedented showdown between the US and the key diplomatic ally.

According to the Mexican central bank, nearly $25 billion was sent home by Mexicans living abroad in 2015, mostly in the form of money transfers. In his memo, Trump said that “the majority of that amount comes from illegal aliens.”

“We have the moral high ground here, and all the leverage,” he concluded. "It is time we use it in order to make America great again."

'Half-baked' proposal

At a White House press briefing on Tuesday, US President Barack Obama blasted the billionaire for his plan to bar Mexican immigrants in the US from sending money back home to force their country to pay for a new border wall.

He called Trump’s money transfer cut-off proposal “just one more example of something that’s not thought through” and made only for political purposes.

"The notion that we're going to track every Western Union bit of money that's being sent to Mexico, good luck with that,” Obama said.

The US president called the plan another shortsighted idea from Trump that could cause concern among world leaders.

“I am getting questions constantly from foreign leaders about some of the wackier suggestions that are being made,” he said, adding that, world leaders “don’t expect half-baked notions coming out of the White House. We can’t afford that.”

Trump said on Tuesday he was "absolutely, 100 percent" behind the wall plan.

It's the third time in less than a week that Obama has denounced Trump's comments about foreign affairs.

Apart from Mexicans, Trump is notorious for attacking Muslims.

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