Mexican president’s visit to White House put on ice

Efforts to smooth the rocky relationship between President Donald Trump and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto appeared to take a step backward when the White House confirmed that tentative plans for a meeting in Washington were on hold.

The leaders agreed that now is not the right time for Peña Nieto’s first visit of Trump’s presidency, a White House official who insisted on anonymity told USA TODAY. The two administrations will continue to talk and work together, the officials said.

Meeting plans were abandoned after a “testy call” between the leaders last week ended in an impasse when Trump declined to publicly affirm Mexico’s position that it would not pay for construction of the border wall, The Washington Post reported.