Miami developer Jorge Pérez calls his friend Trump’s border wall “idiotic,” report says

Billionaire Miami developer Jorge Pérez — a friend and former business partner of President Donald Trump — thinks the plan for a wall on the U.S. border with Mexico is “idiotic,” according to a Bloomberg report.

Pérez told Bloomberg that Trump asked him if he would be interested in working on the project, an offer the Related Group honcho declined.

“The wall is the most idiotic thing I’ve ever seen or heard in my life,” Pérez said in a Tuesday interview with Bloomberg. “A wall for what? You think a wall is going to stop people that are hungry? Good employment in Mexico, economic growth in Mexico, equality is going to stop people from coming over the border.”

Related worked on several South Florida condo projects with Trump. As Miami’s luxury real estate market cools down, Pérez is launching new developments in Mexico.

Shortly after the presidential election, Pérez told the Miami Herald that Mexican and other foreign buyers were worried by Trump’s tough talk on immigration.

“We had to reassure our clients that in our opinion there will be no increased restrictions on visas or ownership requirements for foreign buyers,” Pérez said at the time. “Trump is a businessman and understands the importance of foreign buyers. We have done four condominium towers with him in Florida, and he was part of the presentations to Latin Americans. ... I believe that, if anything, he will try to promote this investment to help our economy grow.”

A Florida-Mexico trade summit scheduled to take place in Orlando next month was recently postponed after Trump proposed a 20 percent border tax on Mexican goods.

This story was originally published January 31, 2017 at 11:53 AM with the headline "Miami developer Jorge Pérez calls his friend Trump’s border wall “idiotic,” report says."