Obama is hosting Mexico's president in Washington on Friday. The timing is coincidental, White House says.

Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto and President Obama

(Image credit: Chris Roussakis/AFP/Getty Images))

last updated 22 July 2016

On Thursday, as Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump was promising to build a wall between the U.S. and Mexico and renegotiate NAFTA at the Republican National Convention, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto was preparing for a Friday meeting with President Obama. Obama and Peña Nieto met most recently last month at a North American summit in Canada, and while most White House visits from foreign leaders are announced well in advance, the Mexican president's visit was unveiled just last week.

The White House dismissed suggestions that the visit had anything to do with Trump's GOP convention or the Latino vote. "I think it's fair to say that almost anything that President Obama did on Friday would be viewed as a sharp contrast to the agenda that's being put forward by the other side," White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Thursday. "There's plenty on the agenda that doesn't involve the Republican nominee." Peña Nieto has been critical of Trump, but says he will work with whoever wins November's election.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.