Mexico's president has said his country will not pay for White House hopeful Donald Trump's proposed wall along the US-Mexico border, and likened his "strident tone" to the ascent of dictators like Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini.

Enrique Pena Nieto's comments, published in Monday's Excelsior newspaper, were among the most critical public comments yet by a foreign leader of the New York billionaire.

Trump, front-runner to win the Republican Party presidential nomination for the Nov 8 election, has sparked outrage in Mexico with his campaign vow to build a wall along the southern US border to keep out illegal immigrants and drugs, and to make Mexico pay for it.