Trump jets into Mexico to explain plan for wall
DONALD Trump jetted into Mexico yesterday – a nation he has branded the home of murderers and rapists.
The Republican presidential nominee faced a barrage of protests as he held talks with President Enrique Pena Nieto in Mexico City.
In a surprise move Mr Trump, 70, headed south of the border just hours before delivering a key speech on his proposed crackdown on immigration.
The billionaire spent about an hour in a private meeting with Mr Pena Nieto at the Los Pinos presidential residence.
The last-minute trip contrasts with the usual style of foreign presidential visits which are planned and scripted.
Mr Trump sparked controversy with his campaign promise to build a 2,000mile wall to secure the Mexican border – and force Mexico to pay for it. Mr Pena Nieto hit back by comparing the New York tycoon to Hitler and Mussolini.
It was Mr Trump’s first official meeting with a foreign leader since he began his presidential campaign in June last year, but before setting off he was warned he would not be welcome.
Former Mexican president Vicente Fox said: “We don’t want him. We reject his visit. You cannot trust a guy like this.
“He cynically continues to disregard his own people and disregard Mexicans.
“I cannot envision him sitting in that chair. That was the chair of President Washington, President Jefferson, President Kennedy, President Reagan. He doesn’t know how to run a nation. He doesn’t even know how to run a business.”
Mr Trump has seen his poll ratings slip since the US party conventions last month and is trailing Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton, 68, who enjoys strong support among minorities.
Asked if he would speak to the Mexican president in the same blunt terms he has used at home, Mr Trump’s new campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, said he would be “very presidential”.
After the visit Mr Trump flew back to make his immigration speech in Arizona. Aides said that he would reaffirm his determination to build a border wall and to deport illegal immigrants who have committed crimes in the US. He has also pledged to renegotiate or scrap the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement between the US, Mexico and Canada.
Mr Trump has been pilloried in Mexico since he launched his White House campaign.
He said immigrants from Mexico were “bringing drugs, they’re bringing crime, they’re rapists, and some, I assume, are good people”.
Gabriela Cuevas, a senator with Mexico’s conservative opposition and head of the foreign relations committee, said the visit made her country “look weak”.
She said: “Bullies, abusers, those who discriminate and confront. You don’t invite them to come over for coffee.”