US Republican candidate Donald Trump is to visit Mexico on Wednesday, hours before he details measures against illegal immigration in a speech.
Mr Trump tweeted that he was looking forward to meeting President Enrique Pena Nieto, who has invited both him and Democrat Hillary Clinton.
Mr Pena Nieto said dialogue would help "protect Mexicans wherever they are".
Mr Trump has condemned Mexican migrants during his campaign and vowed to build a wall between the two countries.
He will visit Mexico in between a fundraising event in California and his immigration speech in Phoenix, Arizona, on Wednesday night.
The Republican has seen his poll ratings slip since the party conventions last month.
Both nationally and in key states, he trails Mrs Clinton, who enjoys particularly strong support among minorities.
The Mexican president said he had invited both candidates for talks and would meet Trump in private on Wednesday.
"I believe in dialogue to protect Mexican interests in the world and, principally, to protect Mexicans wherever they are," he said.
Mrs Clinton's campaign has not yet said if she will travel to Mexico.
Mr Trump going to Mexico is a bold move. It shows he is willing to confront a nation he has mocked in the past. It may make him - dare I say? - look statesmanlike. And if Pena Nieto slams him afterwards, it could end up working to Mr Trump's benefit.
There is no better way to get conservatives to rally around a candidacy than to have a foreign leader cast aspersions on the nominee.
One risk is that Mr Trump might say or do something controversial while there, although this likely will be a very tightly controlled meeting.
Another is that Mr Trump's base, the voters who cheered as he called undocumented Mexican immigrants "rapists" and "drug dealers", will consider this visit consorting with the enemy.
The stakes were already considerable for Mr Trump's immigration speech on Wednesday night. They just got higher.
No comments:
Post a Comment