Trump to meet Mexican leader
RISKY: ISSUE OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS IS SENSITIVE
Rival presidential contender declines invitation to have talks at this point in time.
Washington
Donald Trump announced yesterday he would travel to Mexico to meet its president, just hours ahead of giving a much-anticipated speech in Arizona on immigration.
The Republican presidential nominee’s surprise trip south of the border comes as debate about his hardline immigration policies reaches fever pitch.
Although his visit holds potential political peril, Trump could seize control of the campaign narrative at a crucial time, showing a willingness to engage diplomatically on a sensitive issue at the heart of his campaign.
“I have accepted the invitation of President Enrique Pena Nieto of Mexico and look very much forward to meeting him tomorrow,” Trump posted on Twitter on Tuesday.
Mexico’s presidential office confirmed the visit. Pena Nieto’s office said he had sent invitations to Trump, as well as his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.
Her campaign has announced no plans for a visit, with an aide on Tuesday saying Clinton “looks forward to talking with President Pena Nieto again at the appropriate time”.
Trump has routinely assailed Mexican immigrants who illegally cross the border into the US.
Hardline immigration policies, including calls for deportations, are a key plank of his campaign.
A sudden international trip by a US presidential candidate would be a logistical and security nightmare at such short notice.
But Trump could be sensing an opportunity in the visit as he mulls whether to soften his positions on immigration, particularly the call early in his campaign to deport about 11 million undocumented immigrants.
Any Trump-Pena Nieto meeting could be an awkward affair. In rally after campaign rally, Trump has pledged to build a wall on the US southern border if he becomes president and to force Mexico to pay for it.
Pena Nieto, for his part, has likened Trump to Germany’s Adolf Hitler and Italy’s Benito Mussolini, and slammed the Republican nominee for his isolationist positions.
And in a July interview, he told CNN that there is no way that Mexico could pay for a wall like that.
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 other criminals.
He was scheduled to deliver a crucial speech last night in Phoenix, Arizona, to clarify his positions on immigration. –