DONALD TRUMP HAS told President Enrique Pena Nieto in Mexico that both Mexico and the United States have a right to build a border wall between the two countries.
The meeting took place amid a firestorm of criticism from Mexicans irate over the Republican White House hopeful’s caustic tirades belittling their country.
Meeting
“We recognise and respect the right of either country to build a physical barrier or wall on any of its borders,” Trump told reporters at the presidential residence after the two men held closed-door talks.
Trump said he and PeñaNieto discussed his call for a border wall during their meeting, but did not talk about his insistence that Mexico pay for it. He says, “that’ll be for a later date”.
Trump said having a secure border is a sovereign right and mutually beneficial.
Trump stunned the political establishment when he announced yesterday that he was making the surprise trip south of the border for a face-to-face encounter with the leader of a neighbour and close US ally who is also one of his sharpest critics.
Pena Nieto has categorically rejected the idea of his country paying for a wall, and has gone so far as to compare the Republican candidate to Hitler and Mussolini.
Trump’s visit holds potential political peril, as many in Mexico loathe him for his toxic rhetoric.
Trump used some of the most incendiary language of his campaign when launching his White House bid last year, describing Mexicans as drug dealers, “rapists” and criminals.
He is scheduled to deliver what is billed as a crucial speech this evening in Phoenix, Arizona, seen as an opportunity to clarify his policy.
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