Mexicans wonder why their president thought a trip to see Trump was a good idea
By David Agren February 25 at 7:38 PM
MEXICO CITY — What has surprised Mexicans is not that President Trump “lost his temper” in a telephone conversation with his Mexican counterpart, prompting President Enrique Peña Nieto to cancel a trip to Washington, but that Peña Nieto was even thinking about going in the first place.
Why, asked foreign affairs analysts and many Mexicans taking to social media Sunday, would the country’s unpopular president contemplate another tête-à-tête with Trump after two embarrassing encounters — that served to strengthen Trump politically at the expense of Peña Nieto?
No one faulted him for canceling this trip to Washington, which he did Saturday. But many Mexicans questioned what purpose the meeting could have served and wondered if the president and foreign minister, Luis Videgaray, had learned from the humiliations of Peña Nieto’s previous interactions with Trump. In those conversations, the U.S. president brought up his “big, beautiful” border wall and the prospect of Mexico paying for it — which the Mexican government says will never happen.
“There hasn’t been a single meeting [with Trump] in which Peña Nieto has obtained some sort of benefit, whether personal or for the country,” said Brenda Estefan, a foreign affairs analyst and former security attache in the Mexican Embassy in Washington. “It’s absurd to continue asking for a reunion so they can be trampled.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/mexicns-wonder-why-their-president-thought-a-trip-to-see-trump-was-a-good-idea/2018/02/25/66811a12-1a51-11e8-98f5-ceecfa8741b6_story.html
