US President to receive Mexican president on January 31: White House

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January 21, 2017 11:46 PM

The two spoke by phone earlier in the day and agreed to meet for talks on trade, immigration and security, press secretary Sean Spicer said.

The office of Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, seen January 4, 2017, said he and US President Donald Trump agreed to open a "new dialogue"

President Donald Trump will receive his Mexican counterpart Enrique Pena Nieto on January 31, the White House said Saturday.

The two spoke by phone earlier in the day and agreed to meet for talks on trade, immigration and security, press secretary Sean Spicer said. He mistakenly gave Pena Nieto's title as prime minister instead of president.

Trump has vowed to build a wall along the US border with Mexico to keep out migrants and make Mexico pay for it.

He has also said he wants to deport millions of immigrants in the US illegally, many of whom are Mexican, and renegotiate -- or, failing that, scrap -- the North American Free Trade Agreement bringing together the US, Mexico and Canada.

The Mexican president's office said that in Saturday's conversation Pena Nieto congratulated Trump on becoming head of state in a phone call in which both agreed to open "new dialogue."

Mexico sends 85 percent of its exports to the United States under NAFTA and thus been rattled by Trump's repeated vows to review or repeal the trade pact, and to build a wall on the border.

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