Pena Nieto came under fire for not being hard on Trump during a joint news conference and failing to challenge him when the NY billionaire said they had not discussed the wall during their meeting.
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“I want to express here publicly my most generous recognition, not only institutionally but also personally, to someone who has always been a committed collaborator of the government’s for driving the transformation of Mexico”.
The president, however, told Milenio television this week that he took the decision to invite Trump, and that “nobody recommended it to me”.
Finally, Mexico would retaliate if Mr Trump were to economically target Mexicans living in the US.
While some local media have said the visit was Videgaray’s idea, Pena Nieto denied that in recent days and said the initiative was all his.
The visit sparked new controversy over who would pay for Trump’s proposed wall along the southern border.
Trump’s visit backfired on the president, with Mexicans voicing outrage that a USA politician who has branded Mexican migrants as “rapists” would get such a prestigious invitation.
Pena Nieto on Wednesday named Jose Antonio Meade to be his new Finance Minister, after Luis Videgaray – who is said to have been behind the invitations to Trump and his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton – handed in his resignation, Xinhua news agency reported.
Algorri gave no reason for the resignation, but it comes in the wake of the Republican presidential candidate’s meeting with Pena Nieto in the Mexican capital last week.
“The government will have to tighten its belt, not the families or companies of Mexico”, said Pena Nieto with Meade standing beside him as he announced the changes, emphasizing that fiscal consolidation was the government’s top economic priority.
“It was useful for the country”, he told El Universal.
Meanwhile, Mexico was criticised for appearing to meddle in the USA presidential election process, and Nieto was forced to repeatedly defend the decision of inviting the presidential nominees.
But Pena Nieto was ridiculed for not confronting Trump more directly during the visit about him calling migrants from Mexico criminals, drug-runners and “rapists” and promising to build a border wall and force Mexico to pay for it.
An investigation led by the minister for public administration cleared Videgaray and Pena Nieto of wrongdoing a year ago, but critics questioned the probe as it was conducted by someone picked by the president.
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Although the scandal is hurting Pena Nieto, Wilson said, ultimately, what matters to Mexicans is “kitchen table” issues such as the economy, public security and fighting corruption. “Some say he did well, others say the debt has increased”.
