Update 2 | Trump hits out at Mexico as president cancels US trip
'Unless Mexico is going to treat the United States fairly, with respect, such a meeting would be fruitless, and I want to go a different route, we have no choice.'
US President Donald Trump with his Mexican counterpart Enrique Pena Nieto
US President Donald Trump has hit out at Mexico after its president Enrique Pena Nieto announced he had cancelled next week’s scheduled trip to Washington.
Pena Nieto’s decision came after Trump tweeted that his Mexico counterpart should cancel his upcoming visit to Washington if Mexico refuses to pay for a wall he has ordered along the border. Pena Nieto has repeatedly insisted that Mexico will not pay for the wall.
Trump told Republican lawmakers in Philadelphia that the two leaders had mutually agreed to cancel the summit, adding that “the American people will not pay for the wall”.
“Unless Mexico is going to treat the United States fairly, with respect, such a meeting would be fruitless, and I want to go a different route, we have no choice.”
White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters that they are looking “for a date to reschedule” the summit and that they will “continue to keep the lines of communication open”.
Trump on Wednesday signed new executive orders, including one authorizing the planned wall, just as a Mexican delegation led by foreign minister Luis Videgaray arrived at the White House for talks.
The timing caused outrage in Mexico, with several politicians seeing it as a deliberate snub to the government’s efforts to engage with Trump.
In a tweet, Trump warned that Pena Nieto should not attend the summit unless Mexico agrees to pay for the border wall.
“The US 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 in a tweet.
In a tweet, Pena Nieto said that Mexico has informed the White House that he will not attend the work meeting that was scheduled for next Tuesday with the President.
Pena Nieto was due to arrive in Washington for a summit next week during which the two leaders were expected to address bilateral relations that have been frayed by Trump’s determination to build the wall and to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement.
