Trump threatens to cancel Mexico meeting over border wall rift
President Trump is threatening to nix a meeting next week with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto, following the foreign leader’s statements Wednesday night that he was reconsidering his visit to the United States.
Mr. Trump sent two messages early Thursday on Twitter, saying if “Mexico is unwilling to pay for the badly needed wall, then it would be better to cancel the upcoming meeting.” The meeting was originally scheduled for Jan. 31.
Mr. Trump also criticized the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement as a “one-sided trade deal” in his tweets:
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...
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 26, 2017
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.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 26, 2017
The tweets come just after Peña Nieto held a press conference Wednesday night condemning Mr. Trump’s decision to forge ahead with the border wall he repeatedly promised to build during his presidential campaign.
“I have said time and time again, Mexico will not pay for any wall,” the Mexican leader said. He went on to issue an order designating the 50 Mexican consulates in the U.S. as defense centers to protect the rights of Mexican nationals.
On Wednesday during a visit to the Department of Homeland Security headquarters, Mr. Trumpsigned an executive order calling for “the immediate construction of a physical wall on the southern border.” It also provided added border patrol resources to DHS.
In an ABC News interview aired Wednesday, the president promised the wall will be built “as soon as we can, as soon as we can physically do it.”
House Speaker Paul Ryan said Wednesday that Congress could be responsible for footing the bill for the wall at the outset -- a price tag of between $8 billion and $14 billion -- but that there could be methods to have Mexico eventually pay.
In a press conference Wednesday, White House press secretary Sean Spicer promised the same.
“One way or another, Mexico will pay for it,” Spicer vowed. Later, he said the president was “working with Congress and other folks to figure out opportunities for Mexico to pay for the wall.”