This archive report was first published on 8 July 2020.
On a day meant to celebrate the newly-launched US-Mexico-Canada Agreement trade deal, US President Donald Trump and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador met in the Oval Office for their first face-to-face meeting on July 8, 2020.
Trump, who was elected in 2016 on a promise to build a wall on the US-Mexico border, had previously branded Latino immigrants 'bad hombres' and accused the Mexican government of sending criminals and rapists to the US.
However, in a surprising shift, Trump hailed the relationship between the two countries as 'outstanding,' saying, "We've had a very outstanding relationship... The relationship between the United States and Mexico has never been closer than it is right now," according to a statement from the White House.
López Obrador, who was elected president in 2018, adopted a conciliatory tone towards Trump, thanking him for his understanding and expressing his desire to maintain 'very good political relations' between the two countries.
"I want to thank you for your understanding," López Obrador said. "There is no reason for the very good political relations between our countries to deteriorate."
