Standing alongside the president of Mexico, a measured Donald Trump defended the right of the United States to build a massive border wall along its southern flank, but he declined to repeat his frequent promise to force Mexico to pay for it.

Trump, the US presidential candidate who is widely despised across Mexico, also sidestepped his repeated criticism of Mexican immigrants following a closed-door meeting on Wednesday at the official residence of the countrys president, Enrique Pena Nieto.

Trump and Pena Nieto, who has compared the New York billionaire to Adolf Hitler, addressed reporters from adjacent podiums flanked by a Mexican flag.

We did discus the wall. We didn't discuss payment of the wall, Trump said.

In his announcement of his presidential candidacy last year, Trump derided Mexico as a source of rapists and criminals coming to the US, and his presence yesterday sparked anger and protests across the capital city.