MEXICO/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “U.S. President Donald Trump pressured the Mexican president to stop voicing opposition in public to his plan to have Mexico pay for a border wall, according to transcripts of phone calls published on Thursday [8-3-17] that gave an insight into Trump’s attempts to influence foreign leaders in his first days in office.
The Washington Post published texts of calls with Mexico’s Enrique Pena Nieto and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull just days after the Republican took office on Jan. 20.
Trump, who took office on Jan. 20, argued with Turnbull over refugees in an acrimonious call eight days later which the new U.S. president told his counterpart was ‘unpleasant.’
In a Jan. 27 call, Trump told Pena Nieto that ‘if you are going to say that Mexico is not going to pay for the wall, then I do not want to meet with you guys anymore because I cannot live with that,’ according to the transcript.
‘You cannot say that to the press,’ Trump said repeatedly.
The proposed wall, aimed at preventing illegal immigration to the United States, is a bone of contention between Mexico and Washington.”
-Ayesha Rascoe, “Trump pressured Mexico president on border wall payment: report,” Reuters, Aug. 3, 2017 06:59am