Mexican Prez Won’t Back Down: I Was ‘Clear’ With Trump We’d Never Fund Wall

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto smiles before his meeting with Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen in Copenhagen, Thursday, April 14, 2016. The President and his wife Angelica Rivera de Pena are on a two-... Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto smiles before his meeting with Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen in Copenhagen, Thursday, April 14, 2016. The President and his wife Angelica Rivera de Pena are on a two-day State Visit to Denmark, ending Thursday. (Jens Dresling/Polfoto via AP) DENMARK OUT MORE LESS
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Soon after Donald Trump crowed on Twitter on Thursday morning that “Mexico will pay for the wall,” embattled Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto published an op-ed saying he was “clear” with Trump that his country would do no such thing.

“In my conversation with Trump about the border, I was also very clear: Mexico will not pay for any wall,” Peña Nieto wrote in Spanish in El Universal, one of Mexico’s highest-circulation newspapers.

The two politicians have offered up differing accounts of their private Wednesday meeting in Mexico City, with Trump claiming they didn’t discuss who would fund his signature wall and Peña Nieto insisting that he told Trump Mexico paying for it was off the table.

Trump effectively treated the visit as a high-profile photo opportunity, praising the Mexican president as a “friend” before traveling to Arizona to deliver a speech that heaped scorn on Mexican immigrants.

“Mexico will pay for the wall, 100 percent. They don’t know it yet, but they’re going to pay for it,” he told a crowd in Phoenix.

Peña Nieto is under fire from Mexicans who say he legitimized Trump by inviting him to visit their country after the Republican nominee spent the last 14 months on the campaign trail using Mexico as a rhetorical punching bag.

In his op-ed, Peña Nieto explained that it was his “responsibility” to work with whoever won the U.S. election and reiterated that he invited Hillary Clinton to visit as well.

He argued that it was even more important to meet with Trump given his rhetoric about Mexico.

“I was very clear—in public and in private—in emphasizing that we in Mexico feel offended and hurt by his comments about Mexicans,” Peña Nieto wrote, saying he told Trump that Mexicans were hardworking, honest people who value their family and culture.

Peña Nieto said Trump has offered a “distorted vision” of Mexico and its people on the campaign trail, and urged him to emphasize a culture of “mutual respect” between the two nations.

Donald Trump reacted positively to those exhortations, Peña Nieto wrote.

The Mexican president said he also spoke to Trump about the transnational economic links between the countries, and how illegal arms and millions of dollars flowing from the U.S. help fuel drug violence in Mexico.

Latest Livewire

Notable Replies

  1. “In my conversation with Trump about the border, I was also very clear: Mexico will not pay for any wall,” Peña Nieto wrote in Spanish in El Universal, one of Mexico’s highest-circulation newspapers.

    Though the conversation was supposedly private, seeing how this is now a manhood issue, two questions need to be asked now

    1. was the conversation secretly taped?

    2. is he willing to share?

  2. I don’t know who’s going to eventually come out this covered in more poop …this dude or Donnie.

  3. Lordy, I hope so. It’d be only a matter of time until it comes out…

  4. both will

    Trump likely doesn’t care, but as I stated before, if EPN has evidence that he told Trump to pound rocks, he really needs to share that now.

  5. You should have had the cameras rolling.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

86 more replies

Participants

Avatar for xpurg8d Avatar for meri Avatar for humpback Avatar for steviedee111 Avatar for inversion Avatar for mantan Avatar for frankly_my_dear Avatar for daveyjones64 Avatar for lastroth Avatar for ignoreland Avatar for musgrove Avatar for darrtown Avatar for pshah Avatar for thunderclapnewman Avatar for tena Avatar for beattycat Avatar for jinnj Avatar for lizzymom Avatar for grack Avatar for centralasiaexpat Avatar for planetx Avatar for joepotosky Avatar for oceanica Avatar for pike_bishop

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: