Trump has 'friendly' call with Mexican
leader but he demands change
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[January 28, 2017]
By Roberta Rampton and Emily Stephenson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The presidents of
the United States and Mexico spoke by phone on Friday after relations
between the neighboring countries frayed further over Donald Trump's
border wall plan, with the U.S. leader calling the talk friendly but
still demanding reworked trade and other ties.
The call between Trump and Enrique Pena Nieto came a day after the
Mexican president scrapped a meeting set for next week at the White
House over Trump's demand that Mexico pay for a multibillion-dollar wall
along the lengthy southern U.S. border with Mexico. Mexico insists it
will not pay for it.
Both countries issued statements saying Trump and Pena Nieto recognized
their clear differences of opinion on the payment demand, and agreed to
settle the matter as part of a broader discussion on all aspects of the
two nations' relationship.
Financial markets took news of the call as a sign that the crisis in
U.S-Mexican relations just days after Trump took office had eased.
Mexico's peso rose on the news.
Mexico's government statement said Trump and Pena Nieto agreed not to
talk publicly for now about payment for the wall. The White House did
not immediately clarify whether Trump had agreed not to publicly discuss
how the wall would be paid for.
During a joint news conference at the White House with visiting British
Prime Minister Theresa May after the call, Trump did not mention the
wall even as he spoke expansively about U.S. relations with Mexico.
"As you know, Mexico - with the United States - has out-negotiated us
and beat us to a pulp through our past leaders. They've made us look
foolish," Trump told the news conference.
"We have a trade deficit of $60 billion with Mexico. On top of that, the
border is soft and weak, drugs are pouring in," added Trump, who during
the U.S. presidential campaign accused Mexico of sending rapists and
other criminals into the United States.
The United States had a $58.8 billion trade deficit with its southern
neighbor in the 11 months ending last November.
Trump called his hour long talk with Pena Nieto "very, very friendly,"
said he has a "very good relationship" with him and expressed "great
respect for Mexico." Mexico and the White House both called the meeting
productive and constructive.
Nevertheless, Trump showed no signs of backing off pledges to
renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with Mexico
and Canada and slap high tariffs on American companies that have moved
jobs south of the border.
Mexico sends 80 percent of its exports to the United States, and about
half of Mexico's foreign direct investment over the past two decades has
come from its northern neighbor.
'FAIR RELATIONSHIP'
"We are going to be working on a fair relationship and a new
relationship" with Mexico, Trump told the news conference with May. "But
the United States cannot continue to lose vast amounts of business, vast
amounts of companies and millions and millions of people losing their
jobs. That won't happen with me."
Trump said the United States will renegotiate trade deals and other
aspects of America's relationship with Mexico, adding, "And in the end I
think it will be good for both countries."
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Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto is seen during the delivery of
a message about foreign affairs at Los Pinos presidential residence
in Mexico City, Mexico, January 23, 2017. REUTERS/Edgard Garrido
U.S. congressional leaders said on Thursday they would take up
legislation to provide $12 billion to $15 billion to pay for the
wall.
Trump, who has insisted that Mexico will reimburse the United States
for the entire cost, signed a directive on Wednesday for the wall to
proceed, part of a package of measures aimed at curbing illegal
immigration.
The wall plan has angered Mexicans, and Trump's policies toward
Mexico have put Pena Nieto on the defensive.
The Republican president views the wall, a major promise during his
election campaign, as part of a package of measures to curb illegal
immigration. Mexico has long insisted it will not heed Trump's
demands to pay for the construction project.
On Thursday, White House spokesman Sean Spicer sent the Mexican peso
falling when he told reporters that Trump wanted a 20 percent tax on
Mexican imports to pay for the wall.
Spicer gave few details, but his comments resembled an existing
idea, known as a border adjustment tax, that the Republican-led U.S.
House of Representatives is considering as part of a broad tax
overhaul.
Trump said in an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network
on Friday that there were options besides an import tax that could
be "much more positive" for both countries.
The White House said Friday's call also covered "the importance of
the friendship between the two nations, and the need for the two
nations to work together to stop drug cartels, drug trafficking and
illegal guns and arms sales." Mexico's government said the U.S.
trade deficit also came up.
In Mexico City, billionaire Mexican businessman Carlos Slim said a
united Mexico was ready to help the government negotiate with Trump
and called on all political parties to support Pena Nieto in his
discussions with the U.S. president.
In a rare news conference by the generally media-shy mogul, Slim
said Mexico needed to negotiate from a position of strength, noting
that Trump, who he called a "great negotiator," represented a major
change in how politics will be conducted.
(Additional reporting by Roberta Rampton and Steve Holland in
Washington and Christine Murray and Lizbeth Diaz in Mexico City;
Writing by Will Dunham; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
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