Mexican President Cancels Meeting With Trump

Mexico's President: 'I Regret and Reject' Plan for Wall

Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto announced on Twitter today that he canceled a scheduled meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, just one day after Trump signed an executive order calling for the launch of plans to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

“This morning we informed the White House I will not attend the business meeting scheduled for next Tuesday with @POTUS,” he tweeted in Spanish.

Peña Nieto was under intense domestic pressure to cancel after Trump announced the wall policy yesterday while the Mexican foreign minister was in Washington to meet with top Trump advisers Jared Kushner and Steve Bannon and chief of staff Reince Priebus, among others.

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Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto spoke out Wednesday night against President Donald Trump’s plan to build a border wall, saying he rejects the move.

“I regret and reject the decision of the United States to continue building a wall that, that for years, far from uniting us, divides us,” Pena Nieto said in a taped message.

“Mexico does not believe in walls.”

One of the two executive orders Trump signed today lays the groundwork for a border wall and Trump told ABC News’ David Muir construction could start in “months.”

In the taped message, Nieto reiterated his stance that Mexico “will not pay for any wall” and said he’s ordered the Foreign Affairs ministry to “reinforce protection measures for our nationals.”

“The 50 Mexican consulates in the United States will convert into authentic advocates for the rights of migrants.”

He did not address reports that he may be canceling next week’s visit to Washington, D.C. But Mexican Foreign Affairs Secretary Luis Videgaray Caso said in an interview Wednesday night with Mexico’s Televisa that Nieto’s Jan. 31 visit is still confirmed.