Trump, Pena Nieto to talk NAFTA at G20 meeting

By Nancy Caouette

MEXICO CITY (AA) – A brief meeting Friday between President Enrique Pena Nieto and U.S. President Donald Trump will not yield any major agreements, Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray Caso told a local television station Wednesday.

“We must put it in its right dimension,” Videgaray Caso said of the first meeting between the two leaders since Trump took office in January.

“We will not necessarily agree on all issues, it will not necessarily be a meeting that we agree on everything,” he said, adding he hopes the dialogue would be conducted in ''respectful and cordial terms".

The discussion on the margins of the G20 summit in Germany will include talks on fighting organized crime and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NFTA), Videgaray Caso said.

Mexico has been one of the biggest targets for attacks by Trump since he announced in 2015 he would run for office .

The U.S. president has threatened to build a wall on the southern U.S. border, scrap the North American Free Trade Agreement and impose a 35 percent tariff on products, such as cars, made in Mexico.

Pena Nieto telephoned Trump in April to ask him to continue bilateral talks on NAFTA after rumors surfaced the new U.S. preidednt was going to sign an executive order to withdraw the U.S. from NAFTA, the three-country mega trade deal that includes Canada.

"The leaders agreed on the advisability of maintaining the North American Free Trade Agreement and working with Canada to carry out a successful renegotiation for the benefit of the three countries, according to Enrique Pena Nieto’s office after the telephone call.

Both presidents and their Canadian counterpart, Justin Trudeau, are expected to initiate talks on NAFTA renegotiations in August, according to Trump’s administration.