Mexican president ready to work with Trump

pulse

November 9, 2016 3:13 PM

Meade noted that the election has no immediate impact on trade, financial flows and people's ability to travel.

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto (left) held talks with Donald Trump after talks in Mexico City on August 31, 2016

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto said Wednesday he was ready to work with Donald Trump, extending a hand to the US president-elect despite his vitriolic attacks on immigrants from Mexico.

Trump's victory shocked Mexicans, who were angered by the Republican billionaire's description of migrants as rapists and drug dealers.

His defeat of Democrat Hillary Clinton in Tuesday's election caused the peso to plunge to an all-time low due to fears that Trump will go through with promises to upend economic ties with Mexico.

"I congratulate the US on its electoral process and reiterate to @realDonaldTrump my willingness to work together in favor of bilateral relations," Pena Nieto said on Twitter.

"Mexico and the US are friends, partners and allies who must continue collaborating for the competitiveness and development of North America."

Pena Nieto had angered Mexicans by inviting Trump to his official residence in Mexico City in August and not forcefully condemning his comments against migrants.

Trump has vowed to make Mexico pay for a massive border wall and renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), while pledging to deport millions of undocumented immigrants and threatening to freeze billions in remittances that migrants send to their families back home.

Finance Minister Jose Antonio Meade, meanwhile, said the country's economy was robust enough to cope with the market upheaval caused by Trump's victory.

"Mexico has lived through challenges of volatility in the past that we faced with unity, seizing on our economic strength and taking correct and prudent policy decisions, and this won't be an exception," Meade said at the National Palace.

Meade noted that the election has no immediate impact on trade, financial flows and people's ability to travel. Mexico, he added, has inflation under control, deep international reserves totalling $175.1 billion and macroeconomic stability.

Meade said the strength of public and private financial institutions allowed the government to avoid taking "premature actions that move ahead of events that we don't know about at the moment."

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