Despite the hasty appearance of Donald Trump’s touchdown visit to Mexico to build bridges with the president, there appears to be one element of the diplomacy effort which was well prepared.
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“This is the first of what I expect will be many, many conversations – and in the Trump administration we’re going to go about creating a new relationship between our two countries”.
While he insisted, as he regularly does on the campaign trail, that Mexico will pay for the wall, Trump said in Mexico that he and Pena Nieto did not discuss who would fund the construction.
In his speech, Mr Trump laid out a grim, sweeping nationalist plan to dramatically slash illegal immigration, a main plank of his presidential campaign. But clash cast a cloud over Trump’s first meeting with a foreign dignitary.
Last week, Pena Nieto extended invitations to visit Mexico to both Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton, who met with him in Mexico in 2014.
But on the eve of the speech, Trump’s campaign added a new wrinkle with news that he would be paying a surprise visit to Mexico City in the hours before the speech.
Sticking to his harsh immigration rhetoric, Donald Trump on Thursday vowed “no amnesty” for millions of undocumented migrants living in the United States and warned that those living in the country illegally would be deported if he becomes president.
Trump’s message was a stark contrast to his relatively measured tone during his surprise visit to Mexico, where he sought to portray himself as a capable statesman on the global stage after a year of lobbing insults across the border.
Traditionally bitter political adversaries in Mexico have been united in their rejection of Trump, making Wednesday’s hastily-arranged encounter a gamble with few obvious benefits for Nieto. The Mexican leader’s office confirmed the meeting with its own tweet, saying the two men would meet privately. But he said they did not discuss who would pay for it, saving it for another meeting – which, apparently, Peña Nieto felt the need to contradict.
“Trump has badmouthed Mexicans, it’s appalling that the president has invited him”, said Abril Marquez, a 23-year-old law student holding a sign saying “Trump, you’re not welcome!”
The addition of the word “also” on the Mexico hats might do little to reassure Mexican Americans that the Republican nominee considers them more than an after-thought.
After a couple of quiet, gaffe-free weeks, teleprompter Trump once again reverted to the id surfing arena rockstar Trump feeding off the crowd and whipping them up about promises to build a massive wall on the Mexican border, which experts have estimated would cost from $15 bn to $25 bn.
Notably, he did not call for a blanket ban on Muslim immigration, as he previously suggested in the campaign.
Several of Trump’s major Latino supporters said they are considering dropping their backing following his speech, Politico reported.
Former Mexican Presidents Vicente Fox and Felipe Calderon have also alluded to Hitler in describing the GOP nominee. Earlier this summer, Trump traveled to Scotland to attend the re-opening of one of his golf resorts, but notably didn’t meet with any United Kingdom political leaders while there.
“It’s our right as a sovereign nation to choose immigrants that we think are the likeliest to thrive and flourish and love us”, Trump said in a highly anticipated speech in Arizona.
Back in Phoenix Wednesday night, Trump doubled down on his wall proposal, clarifying in a prescheduled immigration speech that he still intends to get Mexico to pay for the wall, “100%”.
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Speaking in Arizona on Wednesday, Trump stressed that there must be “zero tolerance for criminal aliens” and promised to triple the number of ICE deportation officers, increase the number of border patrol agents by 5,000, as well as to block funding for sanctuary cities.
