Trump humiliates Mexican president again over border wall

David Agren in Mexico City,The Guardian 4 hours ago

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During G20 meeting, Trump says Mexico will absolutely finance

wall

Many Mexicans infuriated by Pea Nietos unwillingness to push

back

Donald Trump has again humiliated Mexicos president Enrique Pea Nieto
by repeating his claim in the presence of the Mexican leader that
Americas southern neighbour would pay for a border wall.
Pea Nieto allowed Trumps comments to go unchallenged when the two
leaders met on the sidelines of the G20 meeting in Hamburg on Friday.
Asked by reporters if he expected Mexico to finance a border wall, Trump
responded: Absolutely. Pea Nieto sat silently next to him.
The meeting the first between the two leaders since Trump took office
again highlighted Trumps insensitivities toward Mexico, while Pea
Nietos passivity brought back bad memories for many Mexicans.
Trump travelled to Mexico City when his campaign was sagging last
August, and embarrassed Pea Nieto in the presidential palace by
speaking publicly of his plans for fencing of the frontier. The Mexican
president was fiercely criticised for failing to contradict Trump.
Earlier this year, the Mexican government announced that the two
presidents had agreed not to talk in public about the wall a deal that
Trump has honored in the breach.
Trumps apparent inability to talk to Pea Nieto without offending Mexico,
and the Mexican presidents apparent unwillingness to push back, have
infuriated many Mexicans.
Carlos Bravo Regidor, a professor at the Centre for Teaching and Research
in Economics in Mexico City, said: Trump broke the deal they had of not
talking about the wall in public. And Pea Nieto should have called him,
right there, to his face on. He didnt.
Trump is a bully, but Pea Nieto is a coward.
Jorge Ramos, the Univision anchor whom Trump expelled from a press
conference during the campaign, tweeted: Trump says again that Mexico
will pay for the wall. When will [Pea Nieto] dare to say to his face and in
public that Mexico will not pay?
Leon Krauze, a prominent Mexican journalist, contrasted Pea Nietos
behaviour with that of the French president Emanuel Macron, who greeted
Trump with a white-knuckle handshake. Macron understood what EPN
did not: in the face of Trumps schoolyard diplomacy, you have to act
firmly in public. What counts is what is visible, he tweeted.
The two presidents were scheduled to meet 31 January in Washington,
but Pea Nieto cancelled the visit after Trump tweeted his Mexican
counterpart shouldnt bother coming if the wall wasnt on the agenda.
Before Trumps inauguration, Mexico had feared the worst from a Trump
administration, but so far, it has not experienced the disaster many had
anticipated.
The Mexican peso tumbled after Trumps election victory, but has raced
back in 2017 as investors increasingly believe the president will be unable
to enact his protectionism.
In a television address recorded before he headed to the G20, Trump
repeated previous threat to tear up the Nafta free trade deal: We are
pursuing a total renegotiation of Nafta. And if we dont get it we will
terminate that is end Nafta forever.
Nafta negotiations are scheduled to start in August but despite Trumps
threats, expectations are the treaty will be tweaked rather than
terminated which may explain Pea Nietos apparent eagerness to avoid
open confrontation.
This government has decided to defend Nafta at any expense, including
our dignity, said Brenda Estefan, a foreign policy analyst.
Still, many in Mexico expressed exasperation with trying to appease a
president some historians have called the biggest foreign threat to
Mexico since President James Polk, author of the Mexican-American war.
Pea Nieto tweeted later to say he had had a productive meeting with
Trump, in which they reviewed advances in migration, security and
economic development.
In a radio interview, Mexicos foreign minister, Luis Videgaray, described
the meeting as friendly and respectful and said the wall was not
discussed.
He said of Trumps comments: I didnt her it. Pea also didnt hear it.

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o eddieb 43 minutes ago

Mexico has a wall on their southern border.

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o Pat 1 hour ago

trump will soon have every single country hating America.

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o Jos 1 hour ago

Well, he's free to "want" whatever he wants. There's a difference between what he
"wants" and what he "gets". That's not humiliating Mexico, that's just his wishful
(outloud) thinking

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o Satanic Jesus 34 minutes ago

Do Trump supporters actually believe that Mexico is going to pay for the ridiculously
expensive wall? , If so you are beyond gullible.

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o Michael 44 minutes ago

This is not about President Trump's alleged 'insensitivities' toward Mexico. This is
about Mexico's failure to take care of its own people and those peoples' subsequent
abuse of the United States' taxpayers. The Mexican government is solely responsible
for its own corruption and failure. Period. End of story.

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o Stephen 21 minutes ago

Trump did not humiliate the Mexican president, as unusual he humiliated himself.

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o BH 1 hour ago

Trump can continue to blabber mouth all he wants. Unless Trump shows that Mexico
has paid him cash to build his wall Trump is only a simpleton blabber mouth.

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o Diane 2 hours ago

Is the Guardian a Mexican paper or just extremely anti-President Trump.

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o Anonymous 47 minutes ago

Get this through your thick skulls, folks: Mexico is not our friend. Mexicans are not
our friends. We cannot absorb 30,000,000 mexicans without becoming a third world
cesspool just like mexico. They are not leaving the cesspool behind. They're bringing
it to our country. Study La Reconquista--the taking back, by mexico, of our southwest
simply by occupying it. MILLIONS of mexicans, taking back our southwest.

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o Vrede 31 minutes ago

Americans are sick and tired of taking in the illegals that flow across our borders
with little resistance. We work hard to take care of our 2 children while the illegals
come here and breed like the rats that they are, and we pay for everything. This has
got to stop. This is why Trump was elected. The liberals just do not get it.

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