Mexico says it will work with Trump, won’t pay for wall
North American neighbors congratulate US president-elect, despite his calls to renegotiate trade deal, build wall on southern border
Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto said Wednesday he was ready to work with Donald Trump but the country’s foreign minister reiterated the government’s refusal to pay for his planned border wall.
Meanwhile, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pledged Wednesday to work “very closely” with Trump.
Trump’s victory shocked Mexicans, who were angered by the Republican billionaire’s description of migrants as rapists and drug dealers.
His defeat of Democrat Hillary Clinton in Tuesday’s election caused the peso to plunge to an all-time low due to fears that Trump will go through with promises to upend economic ties with Mexico.
“I congratulate the US on its electoral process and reiterate to @realDonaldTrump my willingness to work together in favor of bilateral relations,” Pena Nieto said on Twitter.
“Mexico and the US are friends, partners and allies who must continue collaborating for the competitiveness and development of North America.”
Pena Nieto had angered Mexicans by inviting Trump to his official residence in Mexico City in August and not forcefully condemning his comments against migrants.
Trump has vowed to make Mexico pay for a massive border wall and renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), while pledging to deport millions of undocumented immigrants and threatening to freeze billions in remittances that migrants send to their families back home.
“Paying for a wall is not part of our vision,” Foreign Minister Claudia Ruiz Massieu of Mexico told the Televisa network.
But she said the government has had a “daily fluid dialogue” with the Trump campaign and that the two countries were “not starting from zero.”
“It’s an opportunity. The terms of the relationship change,” she said.
Trudeau on Wednesday said “Canada has no closer friend, partner, and ally than the United States.”
“We look forward to working very closely with President-elect Trump, his administration, and with the United States Congress in the years ahead, including on issues such as trade, investment and international peace and security.”
Canada and the United States share the world’s longest international border and are its biggest trade partners with about $2 billion in bilateral exchanges each year under the NAFTA, which Trump has vowed to renegotiate.
The 1994 accord, which binds Canada, Mexico and the United States, unites 530 million consumers and represents more than one-quarter of global GDP.
“The relationship between our two countries serves as a model for the world. Our shared values, deep cultural ties and strong integrated economies will continue to provide the basis for advancing our strong and prosperous partnership,” Trudeau said.
The Canadian leader had refused in recent days to publicly share his personal preference in the White House race, cautiously acknowledging that change was inevitable with the next presidency.
“There’s going to be a need for Canada to reaffirm the issues that are important to Canadians, to our businesses, to travelers and to our place in the world and that’s exactly what I’m going to do,” he said last week.
The Times of Israel Community.