Mexico's president has backed out of a planned meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump. President Enrique Peña Nieto's move came on 26 January 2017, the day after Trump signed an executive order to begin building a massive border wall between Mexico and the United States:
Esta mañana hemos informado a la Casa Blanca que no asistiré a la reunión de trabajo programada para el próximo martes con el @POTUS.
— Enrique Peña Nieto (@EPN) January 26, 2017
("This morning, we informed the White House that I will not be attending the meeting scheduled for next Tuesday with the POTUS.")
The decision was part of a public policy skirmish that played out, like so much else in early 2017, on Twitter:
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...
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 26, 2017
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.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 26, 2017
The 31 January 2017 meeting between the two North American leaders was supposed to clarify the relationship (trade and otherwise) between the United States and Mexico. However, Trump's decision to sign legislation to build the border wall and step up Border Patrol staffing and deportations appeared to anger Peña Nieto:
Responding to Trump's actions in an address to the nation, Pena Nieto repeated that Mexico will not pay for the barrier, as he did when Trump was a candidate. "I have said it over and over again. Mexico will not pay for any wall," he said.
Trump has been saying that Mexico would be responsible for paying for the wall, which House Speaker Paul Ryan has denied:
“We intend to address the wall issue ourselves,” Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said.
Pressed on whether construction would increase federal deficits, Ryan said Republicans are fiscal conservatives. He said strengthening the economy and replacing President Barack Obama’s health care system were two of the best ways to bolster the government’s budget.
“If we’re going to be spending on things like infrastructure, we’re going to find the fiscal space to pay for that” in a budget Congress plans to write this spring, Ryan said.
Ryan had previously used figures ranging from $8 billion to $14 billion as his estimate for the cost of the wall.
Meanwhile, preliminary reports have appeared that Border Patrol Chief Mark Morgan, who started his job in October 2016, has resigned.