WASHINGTON—Hours after Donald Trump accepted the Republican presidential nomination, President Barack Obama is opening the White House to Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, who has said the GOP candidate’s negative attitude toward Mexicans, including saying they bring drugs and crime to America and calling them rapists, has hurt his country’s relations with the U.S.
Pena Nieto’s visit comes less than a month after he and Obama met in Canada during a summit of North America’s leaders. Obama’s meetings with visiting foreign leaders are usually announced weeks in advance, but Pena Nieto’s visit was announced just last week.
The White House shrugged off suggestions that the visit was timed to highlight differences between Democrats and Republicans, particularly on attitudes toward Latinos. The Republican National Convention ended Thursday night in Cleveland with Trump’s acceptance speech.
“I think it’s fair to say that almost anything that President Obama did on Friday would be viewed as a sharp contrast to the agenda that’s being put forward by the other side,” said White House press secretary Josh Earnest. “But in this case, it’s been a while since the president has hosted the president of Mexico here at the White House.”
Pena Nieto’s only other White House visit came in January 2015.
