On the heels of his executive order on the proposed border wall, Donald Trump issued a veiled threat, in an early morning tweet, to cancel a meeting with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto. Peña Nieto responded later in the day by announcing, via his own Twitter account, that he had called Trump to cancel their planned meeting.
Donald Trump's executive order and accompanying speech calling for the construction of a border wall was conspicuously missing any reference to his promise to make Mexico pay for that wall. And in an early morning tweet the next day, Trump tried to apply a heavy hand, suggesting that Mexico pay up, or have their scheduled meeting canceled:
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
That meeting, scheduled for next week, has now, in fact, been canceled — by President Enrique Peña Nieto, who delivered the news in Trumpian fashion, via Twitter. Here are the tweets, with English translations:
As we have noted previously, Trump has no way to make Mexico pay for the wall, and he now risks damaging diplomatic relations with a nation which holds considerable leverage as a trading partner. President Peña Nieto's response figures to sting Trump, and only time will tell how he responds in full.
