Trump says he 'absolutely' still wants Mexico to pay for wall

The president also referred to Peña Nieto as a "friend"

Trump's remarks at the G-20 summit during his meeting with Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto are the latest from the president on the project, a campaign hallmark that was met with both lavish praise and derision.

Trump's promise for a wall across the border has seen many iterations since he first introduced the concept and questions have arisen about how the project would be funded.

"Absolutely," Trump said under his breath in response to a reporter's question of whether he still wants Mexico to pay for a southern border wall.

The president, referring to Peña Nieto as a "friend," said that it's been a "very interesting" day at the G-20 Summit and signaled that the U.S. and Mexico are making progress in re-negotiating NAFTA.

"We're negotiating NAFTA and some other things with Mexico, and we'll see how it all turns out. But I think we made very good progress," Trump said.

The meeting comes following Peña Nieto canceling a meeting with Trump that had been planned for this past February.