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After Trump visit, Mexico’s treasury chief quits

“Otherwise they wouldn’t have changed President Pena Nieto’s right-hand man”.

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The spectacle of the Mexican president standing next to the Republican candidate who has disparaged Mexicans prompted widespread dismay and anger here, and reportedly divided Mr. Peña Nieto’s cabinet.

The visit sparked new controversy over who would pay for Trump’s proposed wall along the southern border. She called Trump’s quick stop in Mexico City “an embarrassing global incident”.

The Washington Post, citing Mexicans familiar with the deliberations, reported last week that Videgaray was a leading advocate for the sitdown at Los Pinos.

But on Thursday, Trump lamented Videgaray’s resignation.

Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto at World Economic Forum on Latin America 2010.

The president’s approval rating has since sunk to 23 percent, according to one poll.

The businessman-turned-presidential candidate has also made many racial slurs about Mexicans and has claimed “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best …”

The 48-year-old Videgaray ran Pena Nieto’s election campaign, and was widely seen as the president’s top aide, who had a huge influence on policy after orchestrating the country’s landmark energy, telecommunications, tax and education reforms.

“I’d like to point out that the only thing, absolutely the only thing I agree on with candidate Trump is that Luis Videgaray is an exceptional public servant”, Meade said.

A somber-looking Pena Nieto told a news conference that Videgaray, who officials said was the architect of the visit by the Republican nominee for the November 8 US presidential election, would give way to a former finance minister, Jose Antonio Meade.

“It was useful for the country”, he told El Universal.

Meanwhile, Mexico was criticized for appearing to meddle in the USA election process, and Pena Nieto was forced to repeatedly defend the decision to invite the candidates.

“If Hillary Clinton wins, maybe this is a bit of stain on what she would hope to be a strong relationship from the get-go”, he added.

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In 2014, Videgaray acknowledged he had bought a house from the same government contractor that sold a mansion to Pena Nieto’s wife, Angelica Rivera, in the administration’s deepest scandal.

Mexican finance minister steps down in wake of Donald Trump's visit