By Robert Laurie —— Bio and Archives January 27, 2017
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Outraged Mexicans back Peña Nieto's decision to scrap visit with 'bully' Trump https://t.co/WxbGOXkibG pic.twitter.com/Jq4DbgckQo
— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) January 26, 2017
Twitter diplomacy just ripped the Mexican peso, again. At its low, the currency was down more than a percent against the U.S. dollar after Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto canceled a meeting with President Donald Trump, in a dispute over Trump's border wall. It later reversed some of the losses.Trump refused to back down. Instead, he took to Twitter and Facebook to, once again, make it clear that our stance toward Mexico was about to change. Nieto cancels Trump meeting, Peso crashes, Trump stands firm
Now, the AP is reporting that the two Presidents have engaged in an hour-long phone call.Mexico has taken advantage of the U.S. for long enough. Massive trade deficits & little help on the very weak border must change, NOW!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 27, 2017
President Donald Trump and the president of Mexico have spent one hour talking on the phone amid rising tensions over Trump's proposed wall along the border.
Two administration officials confirmed Friday's call. Trump and Enrique Pena Nieto (PAYN'-yuh nee-EH'-toh) were supposed to meet in Washington next week, but the Mexican president said Thursday that he was canceling the visit. The two administration officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the call publicly.The content of the discussion has, obviously, not been made public. Again, this all feels like negotiation 101. Establish a hardline position, walk away, double down on your position, and wait for your opponent to re-engage. Then, and only then, you begin the process of de-escalation, scaling your demands back to what you actually wanted in the first place. Where we end up in this process remains to be seen. As always, we'll keep an eye on it.
Robert Laurie’s column is distributed by HermanCain.com, which can be found at HermanCain.com
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