Mexico's President Cancels Trump Meeting, Says Won't Pay for Wall

By teleSUR

26 January 17

 

Mexican President Peña Nieto canceled the meeting after Trump tweeted he should not attend if Mexico does not plan on paying for the border wall.

exican head of state Enrique Peña Nieto announced on Twitter that he will not be attending a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump that was originally scheduled for the end of this month. The announcement comes after Trump issued a Twitter ultimatum to his Mexican counterpart, saying he should only follow through with the visit if Mexico plans on paying for Trump's proposed border wall.

"This morning, we have informed the White House that I will not attend the scheduled meeting this upcoming Tuesday with @POTUS," Peña Nieto announced in a tweet. He also used his Twitter account to reaffirm his commitment to working with the U.S. on agreements that benefit both countries.

In a recorded speech to the nation on Wednesday, Peña Nieto forcefully reiterated that Mexico would not pay for Trump's border wall after the U.S. president signed an executive order for building a wall across the U.S.-Mexican border.

"Mexico does not believe in walls. I've said time again: Mexico will not pay for any wall," Peña Nieto said in the statement released through his official Twitter account on Wednesday.

Peña Nieto's Wednesday statement attempted to reassure Mexicans living in the U.S. who are increasingly under threat from both the rhetoric and policies of the new U.S. president.

"I've asked for the minister of foreign relations to re-enforce protection measures to our citizens," he said, adding that all 50 Mexican consulates in the U.S. will be directed to help defend Mexican migrants living in the U.S.

While expressing "regret" and "rejection" of Trump's decision to build a border wall and increase deportations, he emphasized the importance of the U.S.-Mexican relationship.

"Mexico offers its friendship to the people of the United States and expresses its wish to arrive at agreements with its government, deals that will be in favor of Mexico and the Mexicans," he said.

The U.S. president took to Twitter to respond.

"The U.S. has a 60 billion dollar trade deficit with Mexico. It has been a one-sided deal from the beginning of NAFTA with massive numbers ... of jobs and companies lost. If Mexico is unwilling to pay for the badly-needed wall, then it would be better to cancel the upcoming meeting," Trump said on Twitter.

The decision to rethink the visit came amid an outcry in Mexico calling on the unpopular president to cancel the trip and take a tough stance in the face of Trump. On Twitter, Trump’s executive order was referred to as “an offense to Mexico,” a “slap in the face” and a “monument to lies.”

In a national address Wednesday night, Pena Nieto said he "regrets and disapproves" of the push by Trump to build the wall.

Speaking earlier in the day as Trump gave the orders to start work on the wall along the 2,000-mile border with Mexico, two-time presidential runner-up and leftist opposition leader Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador called on the government of Mexico to “present a lawsuit at the United Nations against the U.S. government for violation of human rights and racial discrimination."

“I think the least he could do under such conditions is to... cancel the visit to the United States as a matter of dignity for Mexico,” said Cuauhtemoc Cardenas, a former presidential candidate and founder of the social-democratic Party of the Democratic Revolution, PRD.

“We cannot accept a humiliated president,” he added during a conference over Trump's decision to build the wall.

Prominent Mexican writer and journalist Juan Villoro also chimed in on the debate. “We have a U.S. president who builds a wall and a Mexican president who only talks about the wall.”

National Action Party or PAN politician and state governor of Guanajuato, Miguel Marquez, criticized President Peña Nieto for not recalling Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray and Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo from Washington, where the two are preparing a visit for the Mexican leader scheduled for Jan. 31.

The fact Trump announced his decision to sign the executive order on Twitter was in “bad taste,” according to Marquez. “I would tell Luis Videgaray and Ildefonso Guajardo to come back immediately,” he added.

Earlier in the day, President Trump ordered the construction of a 2,000-mile wall along the U.S. border with Mexico, a cornerstone of his campaign message.

He has also vowed to crack down on U.S. cities that shield undocumented immigrants, proceeding quickly on sweeping and divisive plans to curb immigration and boost national security.