WASHINGTON // Mexico is willing to talk with the United States to maintain good relations, but paying for president Donald Trump’s border wall is not negotiable, foreign minister Luis Videgaray said.
“We are a proud nation,” Mr Videgaray said. “We simply cannot accept the concept of a neighbour paying for your own wall. There are things that go beyond negotiation; this is about our dignity.”
Holding true to his campaign promise, Mr Trump on Wednesday ordered US officials to begin to design and construct a wall along the 3,200-kilometre US-Mexico border, which he says is needed to stop illegal immigrants and drug smugglers from crossing over.
The US president has insisted that Mexico would bear the cost of construction, estimated at between US$12 billion (Dh44bn) and $15bn. Senior Trump aide Kellyanne Conway told CBS News on Friday that, “Mexico should pay for that wall because they get an awful lot from this country.”
Mexico’s leaders have repeatedly said their country will never pay for the wall.
Mr Videgaray was at the White House on Thursday to pave the way for a visit by Mexican president Enrique Pena Nieto next week when his team received word of a Trump tweet suggesting that if Mexico were not willing to pay for the wall it should cancel the trip.
Mr Pena Nieto tweeted later that he had informed the White House that he would not attend the meeting.
The White House then floated the idea of a 20 per cent tax on Mexican imports to cover the cost of the wall, but later backtracked and called it just one idea among many.
Mr Videgaray said such a tax would only harm Americans.
“Here in the United States avocados, washing machines, televisions, many things that North American families like to buy and that are expensive, would cost more,” he said. “It would be the American consumer who would be paying.”
Undaunted by the prospect of a trade war with the United States’ southern neighbour, Mr Trump resumed his feud with Mexico on Friday with another belligerent tweet.
“Mexico has taken advantage of the US for long enough,” he said, writing first on his personal Twitter account and then retweeting the message under his presidential handle. “Massive trade deficits & little help on the very weak border must change, NOW!”
*Agencies
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360Vuz PROFILE
Date started: January 2017
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Austrian Grand Prix race timings
Weekend schedule for Austrian Grand Prix - all timings UAE
Friday
Noon-1.30pm First practice
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Uefa Champions League final:
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TV: Match on BeIN Sports
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1970
October 26: Bahrain withdraws from a proposal to create a federation of nine with the seven Trucial States and Qatar.
December: Ahmed Al Suwaidi visits New York to discuss potential UN membership.
1971
March 1: Alex Douglas Hume, Conservative foreign secretary confirms that Britain will leave the Gulf and “strongly supports” the creation of a Union of Arab Emirates.
July 12: Historic meeting at which Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid make a binding agreement to create what will become the UAE.
July 18: It is announced that the UAE will be formed from six emirates, with a proposed constitution signed. RAK is not yet part of the agreement.
August 6: The fifth anniversary of Sheikh Zayed becoming Ruler of Abu Dhabi, with official celebrations deferred until later in the year.
August 15: Bahrain becomes independent.
September 3: Qatar becomes independent.
November 23-25: Meeting with Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid and senior British officials to fix December 2 as date of creation of the UAE.
November 29: At 5.30pm Iranian forces seize the Greater and Lesser Tunbs by force.
November 30: Despite a power sharing agreement, Tehran takes full control of Abu Musa.
November 31: UK officials visit all six participating Emirates to formally end the Trucial States treaties
December 2: 11am, Dubai. New Supreme Council formally elects Sheikh Zayed as President. Treaty of Friendship signed with the UK. 11.30am. Flag raising ceremony at Union House and Al Manhal Palace in Abu Dhabi witnessed by Sheikh Khalifa, then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.
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- Previously worked at The Guardian, BBC’s Newsnight programme and ITV News
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Together with the Erada Centre for Treatment and Rehabilitation, the college offers a two-year master’s course as well as a one-year diploma in the same subject.
The move was announced earlier this year and is part of a new drive to combat drug abuse and increase the region’s capacity for treating drug addiction.
