U.S., Mexico reaffirm importance of ties
Nations’ presidents tout the benefits of trade, friendship.
President Barack Obama and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto reaffirmed the importance of the U.S.-Mexico relationship Friday, promoting the benefits of trade and friendship in an election year that has sometimes stressed that alliance.
In a news conference with Pena Nieto at the White House, Obama said trade with Mexico brings important investment and jobs to the U.S. He said the United States sells more to Mexico than to China, India and Russia combined.
Obama said he has worked to deepen the relationship during his presidency.
“We’re not just strategic and economic partners, we’re also neighbors and we’re friends,” Obama said.
The news conference came the morning after the closing of the Republican National Convention and a speech by GOP nominee Donald Trump, whose demands that Mexico pay for a U.S. border wall and descriptions of Mexican immigrants as criminals and rapists has offended Mexicans.
Pena Nieto said a good relationship with the United States is “essential” for his country and that he looks forward to a “frank, open dialogue” with whomever is elected. Pena Nieto avoided questions about Trump’s proposed wall, but has previously said that Mexico will not pay for it.
He and Obama also endorsed the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement that both countries have signed on to, saying it would make the relationship between their countries even stronger. They said they have learned from the twodecade-old North American Free Trade Agreement, which Trump has heavily criticized.
Obama said the global economy is a fact, and “we’re not going to be able to build a wall around that.”
The visit comes less than a month after Pena Nieto and Obama met in Canada during a summit of North America’s leaders. Obama’s meetings with visiting foreign leaders are usually announced weeks in advance, but this visit was announced just last week.
The White House shrugged off suggestions that the visit was timed to highlight differences between Democrats and Republicans, particularly on attitudes toward Latinos.
“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,” said White House press secretary Josh Earnest. “But in this case, it’s been a while since the president has hosted the president of Mexico here at the White House.”
Trump has also said Mexican immigrants “have lots of problems” and when they come to the U.S. “they’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”
‘We’re not just strategic and economic partners, we’re also neighbors and we’re friends.’ President Barack Obama