Enrique Peña Nieto also compared Donald Trump to Hitler and Mussolini.
Mexico’s president finally has publicly spoken out against Republican front-runner Donald Trump, saying his government would not pay for the candidate's proposed border wall.
Enrique Peña Nieto largely has refrained from speaking out against Trump’s series of broadsides against Mexicans or his proposal to force Mexico to pay for a wall along the southern border of the U.S. But in an interview with Mexican daily Excelsior published Monday, Peña Nieto said Trump’s hostile posturing undermines Mexico's relationship with the U.S.
"There’s no scenario," Peña Nieto said, when asked if the Mexican government would ever pay for a border wall. "And I have to also say it discourages me. Of course I can’t find a way to find common ground with this position we’ve observed from this North American political actor."
When asked if he thought Trump’s comments amounted to insincere campaign rhetoric or honest policy plans, Peña Nieto said he considered Trump to be part of a long line of populist politicians who use harsh language and simplistic policies in order to harness public anger.
"In the end, these strident comments aim to offer simple, very simple solutions to problems that, of course, won’t be solved so easily," Peña Nieto said.
"That’s how Mussolini and Hitler got to power," he added. "They took advantage precisely of that context, perhaps, of a problem humanity was then experiencing, after an economic crisis."
In a separate interview with El Universal, also published Monday, Peña Nieto saidTrump’s comments "damaged the relationship with the United States."
More: Mexico's President Says There's No Way He'll Pay For A Border Wall
So, how will Trump try to explain/spin these words coming directly from Mexico's president?
