Henry Romero / Reuters
Appearing alongside Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto on Wednesday, Donald Trump told reporters that he brought up his pledge to build a border wall, but the two did not discuss who would pay for it.
Trump made the comments after what he described as an hour-long meeting with Nieto. The last minute visit was prompted by an invitation from the Mexican president, who also reached out to Trump's rival, Hillary Clinton.
During the press conference, Trump was relatively subdued and praised Nieto, saying it was "a great, great honor" to meet him. He also praised Mexicans, saying he has both employees and friends from the country and they are "spectacular, spectacular hardworking people."
Trump also said that he and Nieto discussed a border wall during an hour-long meeting Tuesday. The wall, and getting Mexico to pay for it, is Trump's signature campaign issue, but he offered few details Tuesday about how the conversation with Nieto played out.
"Who pays for the wall?" Trump said. "We didn’t discuss that."
Mexico and border security generally have played a central role in Trump's campaign, with the candidate frequently blasting what he describes as a massive inflow of undocumented immigrants and the outflow of jobs. He has also said that some Mexican immigrants bring drugs and crime to the US, and are rapists.
Nieto mostly avoided criticizing Trump, but did call out some of the candidate's remarks.
"The Mexican people have felt hurt by the comments that have been made," Nieto said.
Trump also touched on jobs Tuesday, but appeared to take a more moderate stance than he has become known for on the campaign trail. Though he said that NAFTA "has been a far greater benefit for Mexico than for the United States," he also said that the goal should be to "keep jobs in our hemisphere."
He echoed Nieto's own comments about secure borders being mutually beneficial as well.
"No one wins in either country when human smugglers and drug traffickers pray on innocent people," he said.
He went on to outline five points that he said would benefit both countries. The points included improving NAFTA, dismantling drug cartels, securing the border, and ending illegal immigration "not just between our two countries but including the illegal immigration and migration from Central and South Americans and from other regions."
Earlier, Nieto also mentioned border security, noting that "every year millions of dollars of weapons" come to his country from the US. He also noted that 1 million people move across the border legally every day — a statistic Trump himself later mentioned during his own remarks.
Trump concluded by saying that the "the bond between our two countries is deep and sincere."
"Both of our countries will work together for mutual good," he said, "and most importantly for the mutual good of our people."
Source BuzzFeed - Politics http://ift.tt/2bIbdPX
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