MEXICO CITY, March 7 (UPI) — Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto said Republican front-runner Donald Trump has damaged the relationship between the United States and Mexico due to his inflammatory rhetoric.
Trump’s condemned comments include him calling most Mexicans who cross the border illegally into the United States rapists and drug dealers and his proposal to build a wall along most of the U.S.-Mexico border, a campaign promise he often repeats.
“I am of those who regret and condemn these kinds of [discriminatory] expressions of Republican challenger Donald Trump,” Nieto told Mexico’s El Universal. “They hurt the relationship with the U.S.”
Former Mexican presidents Vicente Fox and Felipe Calderon are among high-profile Mexican officials who have rejected Trump’s proposal to build a wall, with Fox recently calling for Trump to drop out of the presidential race.
Trump repeated his proposal that he would raise the wall by a height of 10 feet due to the condemnation.
