Wednesday on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360,” former Mexican President Vicente Fox said current Mexican President Peña-Nieto should cancel his meeting with President Donald Trump over potential tariffs and talk of border wall reimbursement.
Partial transcript as follows:
COOPER: I spoke to Vicente Fox, who has been a critic of the Trump plan. We are learning tonight the Mexican president Peña-Nieto, is under pressure to cancel his trip to the U.S. Should He? Would that be the right decision?
FOX: It’s extended, deep pressure, and I’m sure he’s considering it, because the behavior on his counterpart is horrible. It’s not worth sitting with a guy that is so fixed on his ideas, that he’s so authoritarian, and that it’s only looking after gaining the momentum, recuperating what he lost last weekend. So he is considering it. And my thinking is that he should consider it, that if at any point in time when he’s sitting with the president, he’s again aggressive with Mexico, he’s again offending Mexico, if he is mentioning that he will impose 35% taxation on cars made in Mexico, president Peña should stand up, should get out of there, and should tell him, we don’t need your NAFTA. We can live without it. You cannot. You cannot because of the food, the grain that U.S. put to Mexico, the meat. Yes, the $40 million U.S. — 40 billion, that you export of our automobiles, luxury, trucks, agricultural machinery, motor parts, auto parts — it’s over $40 billion. Which means, again, millions of jobs for U.S. The mirror strategy will apply. You tax Mexican imports, we will takes U.S. imports in Mexico.
(h/t RCP Video)
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN