Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador says he does not agree with President Donald Trump’s opinion that the border wall prevented increased transmission of the coronavirus.
“I respect President Trump’s point of view,” López Obrador said during a press conference on Monday. He added, “Of course I don’t share [his opinion], but I’m not going to confront [Trump].”
During his press conference, López Obrador was asked about Trump’s comments in a Fox News interview where he said the wall on the U.S.-Mexico border helped curb the spread of the virus.
“But you take a look, why don’t they talk about Mexico? Which is not helping us. And all I can say is thank God I built most of the wall, because if I didn’t have the wall up, we would have a much bigger problem with Mexico,” Trump said during an interview with Fox News’ Chris Wallace.
Trump’s past controversial comments come roughly two weeks after López Obrador visited the White House to celebrate the new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which went into effect on July 1.
During meeting with Trump, the first time the two leaders met, López Obrador praised Trump, “You have never attempted to treat us like a colony.”
“That’s why I am here to say to the people of the United States that your president has treated us with kindness and respect,” he added.
Despite Trump’s comments about Mexico, the two leaders appear to have a good relationship. After his visit, López Obrador said Trump has “completely changed his rhetoric.”
“The relationship with President Trump is very good, and, as I said yesterday, he has treated us like friends, not as distant neighbors,” he added.
Before his visit, López Obrador was criticized for agreeing to meet Trump after a series of controversial comments he has made about Mexico.
Some critics argue that by meeting with Trump, the Mexican president implied that “you can bully Mexico, you can threaten Mexico, you can call Mexicans rapists, and the Mexican president will be happy to get on a plane to meet with you anyway.”