Trump insults Mexico’s president by insisting his country will pay for a border wall at G20 summit

Donald Trump has again humiliated Mexico’s president Enrique Pena Nieto by repeating his claim in the presence of the Mexican leader that America’s southern neighbour would pay for a border wall.

Pena Nieto allowed Trump’s comments to go unchallenged when the two leaders met on the sidelines of the G20 meeting in Hamburg on Friday.

Asked by reporters if he expected Mexico to finance a border wall, Trump responded: “Absolutely.” Pena Nieto sat silently next to him.

The meeting, the first between the two leaders since Trump took office, again highlighted Trump’s insensitivities toward Mexico, while Pena Nieto’s passivity brought back bad memories for many Mexicans.

Trump travelled to Mexico City when his campaign was sagging last August, and embarrassed Pena Nieto in the presidential palace by speaking publicly of his plans for fencing of the frontier. The Mexican president was fiercely criticised for failing to contradict Trump.

Earlier this year, the Mexican government announced that the two presidents had agreed not to talk in public about the wall, a deal that Trump has honoured in the breach.

Trump’s apparent inability to talk to Pena Nieto without offending Mexico, and the Mexican president’s apparent unwillingness to push back, have infuriated many Mexicans.

Carlos Bravo Regidor, a professor at the Centre for Teaching and Research in Economics in Mexico City, said: “Trump broke [the] deal they had of not talking about the wall in public. And Pena Nieto should have called him, right there, to his face. He didn’t. Trump is a bully, but Pena Nieto is a coward.”