US President Donald Trump on Friday said he had a friendly phone call with Mexico's president but asserted he will renegotiate trade deals and other aspects of the countries' ties because Mexico has "beat us to a pulp" in the past.
This comes after the Mexican President cancelled a planned summit with Trump in the face of insistent tweets from the US president demanding Mexico pay for a border wall, a deepening spat that threatens Mexican efforts to salvage trade ties.
“We Will Not Pay For Any Wall”: Mexican President
The Mexican President said on Thursday his country "will not pay for any wall," defying the claims Trump has made.
In a video statement posted on Twitter earlier, he said in Spanish:
Mexico does not believe in walls. I’ve said time again; Mexico will not pay for any wall.
The White House said on Thursday that it would look for an opportunity to reschedule the meeting with Mexico's president after Trump commented that “meeting with Mexico's Pena Nieto would have been fruitless.”
Earlier, Trump said in a Twitter message that his Mexican counterpart should cancel his scheduled visit to Washington if Mexico refuses to pay for the wall that he has ordered constructed along the border.
Trump Signs Order to Build US-Mexico Wall
United States President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed directives to build a wall along the US border with Mexico. Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto reacted to the news saying he regrets and rejects the US decision to build a border wall.
Trump signed two executive orders at the Department of Homeland Security, one ordering construction of a wall along the roughly 2,000-mile (3,200-kilometer) US-Mexico border and the other moving to strip federal grant money from "sanctuary" states and cities, often governed by Democrats, that harbor illegal immigrants.
In cities such as San Francisco local officials, often Democrats, refuse to cooperate with federal authorities on actions against illegal immigrants.
‘Construction Would Start Within Months’
In an interview with ABC News on Wednesday, Trump said construction on the wall would start within months, with planning starting immediately, and that Mexico would pay back to the United States "100 percent" of the costs. Mexican officials have said they will not pay for the wall.
During a White House briefing, Spicer referred to the wall as "a large physical barrier on the southern border."
Building this barrier is more than just a campaign promise, it’s a common sense first step to really securing our porous border.This will stem the flow of drugs, crime, illegal immigration into the United States.
"We'll be reimbursed at a later date from whatever transaction we make from Mexico," Trump told ABC on Wednesday. "I'm just telling you there will be a payment. It will be in a form, perhaps a complicated form. What I'm doing is good for the United States. It's also going to be good for Mexico. We want to have a very stable, very solid Mexico."
His plans prompted an immediate outcry from immigrant advocates who said Trump was jeopardising the rights and freedoms of millions of people.
(With inputs from NBC News.)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)