Mexican president cancels meeting with Trump over border wall

Enrique Pena Nieto cancels meeting with Donald Trump.

(Image credit: YURI CORTEZ/AFP/Getty Images)

published 26 January 2017

Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto announced Thursday that he has canceled his scheduled meeting with President Donald Trump:

Peña Nieto was set to meet with Trump next Tuesday, but after Trump signed an executive order Wednesday to direct federal funds toward building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border — and reiterated his pledge to have Mexico reimburse the costs of construction — Peña Nieto said his office had informed the White House he would no longer attend the meeting. Peña Nieto's approval ratings in Mexico are nearing the single digits, and he had faced political pressure to cancel his meeting with Trump.

Trump, for his part, took to Twitter on Thursday morning to say: "If Mexico is unwilling to pay for the badly needed wall, then it would be better to cancel the upcoming meeting." He has also pledged to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, which has linked the U.S., Mexico, and Canada in trade since 1994.