President Trump said Friday at a meeting with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto that they were making “very good progress” on renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement and other issues vital to their neighboring countries, including fighting cross-border organized crime.
“We are negotiating NAFTA and some of the things with Mexico. We’ll see how it all turns out. But I think we’ve made very good progress,” Mr. Trump said at the meeting on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Hamburg, Germany.
Mr. Trump and Mr. Peña Nieto both struck an optimistic note at the press availability for the meeting. The two leaders, however, have been at odds over NAFTA, immigration and, most prominently, Mr. Trump’s promise to build a wall on the border and make Mexico pay for it.
Mr. Peña Nieto has forcefully opposed his country paying for a border wall.
At the meeting, Mr. Peña Nieto said that immigration and “security at our borders” was a top priority.
“Both of our administrations are occupied with this issue as well,” he said.
Since Mr. Trump took office and cracked down on illegal immigration, illegal crossing at the southern border are down about 60 percent.
• S.A. Miller can be reached at smiller@washingtontimes.com.
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