A meeting between Enrique Peña Nieto and Donald Trump had been scheduled for the first week of March but it has been postponed. The decision was taken after a long telephonic conversation between the two leaders on February 20. The subject of dispute was the Mexico Border Wall and its finances.
Trump had promised to build the wall to check entry of illegal immigrants and drug smugglers. It was a promise he had made during his presidential campaign. At that time he had also indicated that Mexico would pay for the wall.
According to CNN, Peña Nieto wanted Trump to publicly affirm that Mexico would not fund construction of a border wall, but Trump was not willing to make any such statement.
Hence, the official trip of the Mexican president to Washington has been called off.
A solution must be found
It seems Donald Trump is racking his brains to come up with a solution. He wanted to remove the menace of illegal immigrants and drug smugglers because they were dangers for the United States. During his presidential campaign, one of his slogans was ‘Make America Safe’ and the Mexico border wall could implement that. Most of these unauthorized persons usually cross over into America through gaps in the existing wall. He wanted something that would be strong enough to deter unwanted elements from forcing an entry. Already prototypes have been built and Fox News confirms that work has started on a small 2-mile stretch of the wall to replace a decaying decades-old barrier in California.
New strategies would be required
The non-availability of funds is an embarrassment for Donald Trump and he must evolve alternate strategies. The Mexico border wall has to be built to block all entry points of illegal immigrants and drug smugglers so that safety is ensured for Americans and the Trump administration will have to come up with ideas.
The Guardian adds that the two presidents discussed for nearly an hour over the phone during which Trump expressed condolences for a helicopter crash in Mexico. Subsequently, they have agreed to postpone the visit of Enrique Peña Nieto to the White House. In their opinion, the time was not suitable to undertake such a visit.
However, teams from both sides would try to evolve a solution, and it is possible that fresh dates would be announced. Incidentally, in his latest budget proposal to Congress, Trump is believed to have requested $23bn for border security. A major portion of it would be earmarked for building the wall.
