Trump softens tone but not stance in Mexico
The GOP nominee doesn’t budge on illegal immigration
MEXICO CITY — Showcasing his flair for the dramatic, Donald Trump flew his campaign to Mexico on Wednesday and, in a hastily arranged summit with the country’s president, insisted on building a border wall and ending illegal immigration.
The trip to a nation he has repeatedly maligned was a stunning move for Trump, who spoke alongside President Enrique Peña Nieto after their meeting. Trump barely let Peña Nieto speak, and called on no Mexican reporters when he took questions. He used more conciliatory language than on the campaign trail, at one point referring to Peña Nieto as “a friend.”
“I was straightforward in presenting my views about the impacts of current trade and immigration policies on the United States,” the Republican presidential nominee said. “There are many improvements that could be made that would make both Mexico and the United States stronger and keep industry in our hemisphere.… A strong, prosperous and vibrant Mexico is in the best interest of the United States.”
Trump marched into hostile territory on a trip that puzzled and infuriated Mexicans across political lines. He has inspired widespread anger in Mexico, where Trump piñatas are for sale and he is mocked online and in song. Demonstrators rallied and waved signs in English reading, “Trump, go home.”
Inside the presidential compound, Los Pinos, Trump held back from the fiery persona he unleashes at campaign rallies. He insisted on building a border wall but he said he did not raise the idea of forcing Mexico to pay for it, though Peña Nieto contradicted that assertion on Twitter.
Peña Nieto referred to border security as a “shared responsibility,” alluding to Mexico’s position that it will not pay for the wall.
Instead, Peña Nieto emphasized the need for cooperation, the advantages of the $500 billion in commerce the two nations share and potential points of agreement. He also pushed back at Trump, who launched his campaign last summer by saying many Mexican immigrants are rapists and criminals and demanding that Mexico pay for his border wall.
“My job is to protect Mexicans wherever they are, and I will continue to do that,” Peña Nieto told Trump as they stood on a stage with Mexico’s flag. “Mexicans who live in the U.S. contribute to prosperity there .... They are people who are honest and hardworking. They respect the law ... and deserve the respect of everyone.”
Peña Nieto seemed to leave the door open for renegotiating, or at least updating, the landmark, 20-yearold North American Free Trade Agreement, which governs commerce among Mexico, the U.S. and Canada. Trump, who has called NAFTA “a disaster,” is likely to seize on that opening to trumpet a victory and push ahead with his anti-globalization campaign plank.
The visit to Mexico, hours before Trump planned to deliver a long-awaited speech on immigration enforcement, was a gamble for him.
A high-level meeting in a presidential palace with a foreign leader allowed the outsider candidate to show statesmanship and to assure voters that his tough talk will not prevent him from striking dialogue with foreign leaders.
Interviews, focus groups and polling have shown that some voters have been reluctant to support Trump because he does not seem presidential, in part because of his bellicose rhetoric toward allies like Mexico, as well as inflammatory language directed at Mexican immigrants crossing the border illegally and to a U.S.-born judge of Mexican descent.
The visit to Mexico also ensured that Trump’s campaign commanded maximum attention during a moment on the calendar when many Americans tune out the election.
The trip helped detract from the details of Trump’s immigration policy, which has caused him trouble over the last two weeks as he has waffled on whether he will abandon his pledge to deport 11 million immigrants in the country illegally.
The attention on Trump’s trip also may benefit Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, who could be facing new scrutiny related to the FBI’s expected release of its investigative file on her private email server.
Clinton also has been on a high-dollar fundraising tear criticized by some as unseemly amid a campaign that focuses on economic inequality. On Tuesday she attended an event in the Hamptons that raised more than $2.5 million.
At a speech in Cincinnati she said that coalitionbuilding “takes more than trying to make up for a year of insults and insinuations by dropping in on our neighbors for a few hours and then flying home again.”
Peña Nieto, who is unpopular at home, faced a far riskier gamble than Trump.
The Mexican president may hope hosting a highprofile luminary will distract Mexicans from the scandals crippling his government, including massacres by security forces, economic slowdown, rampant corruption in his administration and revelations that he plagiarized a good portion of the thesis for his law degree.
But turning to someone so reviled as Trump does not seem like the kind of distraction he needs.
“These are men who are not very popular, so you wonder what they add to each other’s numbers,” said Tony Payan, director of the Mexico Center at Rice University’s Baker Institute, who called Wednesday’s meeting “a puzzling maneuver.” Although Trump probably viewed the meeting as “a grand gesture that may ingratiate him with Latino voters,” Payan said he didn’t know what the Mexican president hoped to gain.
The president was criticized by Mexicans across the political spectrum, with former President Vicente Fox calling him “a traitor” for inviting Trump.
“It’s embarrassing that the president has invited someone who hates Mexicans to our country,” said Olga Ruiz, a professor.
“This is real to us,” said Claudio Negrete, who has worked illegally in the U.S. and has family there. “We’re afraid if he is elected that there will be deportations and families separated.”
Peña Nieto portrayed the meeting as a diplomatic opportunity allowing him to pitch to Trump the importance of NAFTA and the free flow of remittances, money that Mexicans working in the U.S. send home — and which Trump has threatened to use as blackmail to make Mexico pay for his wall.
Peña Nieto told Trump that illegal immigration by Mexicans into the U.S. is at a decade low. But Trump seemed to ignore that.
Mexico is the No. 2 market for U.S. products and a key partner in fighting drug trafficking, and the economic, political and cultural ties between the two nations cannot be overestimated; experts say whoever the next U.S. president is will have to maintain a productive relationship, not one based on acrimony.
The Mexican government initially was restrained in commenting on Trump’s more outrageous statements. Eventually Peña Nieto began to liken his rhetoric to Adolf Hitler’s and Benito Mussolini’s.
More quietly, the Mexican government is offering support for Mexicans who are eligible to become U.S. citizens and helping them register to vote, especially in swing states.