Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto canceled a meeting with President Donald Trump that had been scheduled to take place on Jan. 31 in Washington.
Peña Nieto had faced intense pressure from legislators to take a firmer stand against Trump by passing on the meeting, after Trump signed an executive order Wednesday moving forward on the construction of a wall along the Mexican border―while continuing to insist that Mexico will somehow pay the multibillion-dollar cost.
In a series of tweets, Peña Nieto said he lamented the Trump administration’s decision to insist on Mexico paying for the proposed border wall, a condition the Mexican president has long said he would not accept.
“This morning, we have informed the White House that I will not attend the work meeting scheduled for next Tuesday with @POTUS,” Peña Nieto wrote.
“Mexico offers and demands respect, as the sovereign Nation that we are,” Peña Nieto wrote in another tweet.
Speaking to Republican lawmakers at a retreat Thursday, Trump implied that the decision to cancel the meeting was mutual, saying the two “agreed” to do so, instead of Peña Nieto making the decision.
Read more about the cancelled meeting HERE.
