Trump repeats ultimatums to Mexico after call with Peña Nieto
By
Eric London
28 January 2017
The governments of Mexico and the US announced that presidents Enrique Peña Nieto and Donald Trump spoke for an hour on the telephone yesterday, the day after the Mexican president cancelled a state visit to Washington scheduled for January 31.
Though Trump said the discussion was “very, very friendly” and an official statement from the Mexican government called the conversation “constructive and productive,” initial reports of the call indicate that Trump did not move an inch on his plan to build a wall and force Mexico to pay for it.
Following the call, the Mexican government announced that “the presidents also agreed for now not to publicly discuss this controversial issue.” This face-saving measure on Peña Nieto’s part was not even mentioned in the US government’s communiqué and in all likelihood will not be honored. The Mexican government is hoping to conceal from the public its efforts to work out a deal with Trump to benefit the Mexican bourgeoisie at the expense of Mexican workers.
Trump’s aggressive behavior toward Mexico in recent days has thrown bilateral relations into their greatest crisis in decades. In an underreported development this week, Trump also announced that the White House would publish a weekly list of immigrants accused of committing crimes, a tactic aimed at whipping up anti-immigrant hysteria and appropriated from the Nazi press of the 1930s.
At a joint press conference with UK Prime Minister Theresa May yesterday afternoon, Trump again threatened Mexico with trade war and an immigration crackdown: “Mexico has out negotiated us and beat us to a pulp. They have made us look foolish,” he said. “The border is soft and weak,…