Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto admitted he should not have invited GOP nominee Donald Trump to Mexico, according to a Sunday interview.
“Maybe today would be different, I think I made a very fast decision,” Nieto told Mexican daily La Razón about Trump’s visit to Mexico in August to discuss the nominee’s immigration policies. The Mexican leader goes on to say that ultimately inviting Trump “was important for Mexico.”
Despite the significant backlash he faced for inviting Trump to speak with him, Nieto told La Razón, “[I] take responsibility for the decision and the cost that this represented for the President, for my government, but I think the purpose was and remains the right one.”
Looking back on the invitation, Nieto justifies it by reasoning that back in August it was “an election that looked very close.” Nieto figured that, “Mexico will have to build with whoever is elected U.S. president a relationship like we have had with President Obama; of mutual respect, collaboration and cooperation on objectives and addressing issues [we have] in common.”
Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton was also invited to meet with Nieto but declined to go to Mexico. After a joint press conference following their meeting, Nieto tweeted that “at the start of my conversation with Donald Trump, I made it clear Mexico would not pay for the wall.”
One of Trump’s central policy proposals has been to build a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico to prevent illegal immigration. Throughout the presidential campaign, Trump has asserted that Mexico will pay for the construction of his proposed border wall.
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