Mexican President Peña Nieto Cancels Meeting With Trump

By Jack Phillips
January 26, 2017 Last Updated: January 26, 2017
US President Donald Trump during a joint press conference with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto in Mexico City on Aug. 31, 2016; Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto during a press conference at Los Pinos presidential residence in Mexico City, on Jan. 23, 2017.(YURI CORTEZ/AFP/Getty Images; AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto on Monday said he will not attend a planned Jan. 31 meeting with President Donald Trump, just hours after Trump tweeted the meeting should be canceled if Mexico won’t pay for a border wall.

Peña Nieto’s message on Twitter ended days of uncertainty about his plans.

In a tweet that was translated from Spanish, Peña Nieto wrote, “This morning we informed the White House that I will not attend next Tuesday’s scheduled meeting” with the U.S. president. He also wrote: “Mexico reiterates its willingness to work with the United States to reach agreements on behalf of both nations.”

The two leaders were expected to meet next week in the U.S. to discuss immigration and trade.

Trump on Wednesday signed two executive orders that aim to curb illegal immigration from Mexico, including planning the construction of his often-touted “wall” proposal.

Peña Nieto also said that Mexico wouldn’t pay for a wall along the border of the two countries.

“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 wrote in two tweets.

According to Wednesday’s executive order signed by Trump, the U.S. will fund the wall, expected to cost between $12 billion and $15 billion. But Trump has insisted that Mexico will pay the cost, either directly or indirectly.

“We’ll be reimbursed at a later date from whatever transaction we make from Mexico,” Trump told ABC News in an interview on Wednesday night. “I’m just telling you there will be a payment. It will be in a form, perhaps a complicated form. What I’m doing is good for the United States. It’s also going to be good for Mexico. We want to have a very stable, very solid Mexico.”