Donald Trump seems to admit Mexico will never pay for his border wall

The project is expected to cost $22 billion in total, or $170 per household

Donald Trump may have admitted that Mexico will never pay for his wall.

In his first speech to Congress, the President made repeated reference to the "great wall" that he has promised to build on the southern border of the US.

But he made no mention at all of forcing Mexico to pay for it, a promise that he made repeatedly throughout his campaign.

If Mr Trump is unable to make Mexico bear the costs of the wall – and its politicians have repeatedly committed not to – then the wall is expected to cost almost $22 billion, or $170 per US household.

Throughout his election, Mr Trump repeatedly promised to build a wall and "make Mexico pay for it". But since he took office he has walked back that plan – suggesting that he will instead take the money from the wall from US taxpayers and then get it recouped from the Mexican government.

He appeared to retreat even further on that plan in his first speech to congress, making no mention at all of his promise to have Mexico pay for the wall.

"We will soon begin the construction of a great wall along our southern border," he told lawmakers. "It will be started ahead of schedule and, when finished, it will be a very effective weapon against drugs and crime," he claimed.

Despite repeated references to his tax plans, he also made no mention of suggestions that he could force Mexico to pay for the wall by charging a levy on imports. That plan has been criticised by many commentators, who argue that it would see the cost of the plan actually carried by the US people who buy those products from the country.

Former Mexican president Vicente Fox Quesada, who has previously promised that his country will not pay for the wall, was posting throughout Mr Trump's speech. He said that the President should build a wall just around himself, instead, and "spare us from your evil