MEXICO CITY — Making his final state of the union address before national elections next year, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto on Saturday received a thunderous standing ovation when he vowed that Mexico would not compromise its national “dignity” in the country’s rocky relations with the Trump administration.
“I have said it and I will reiterate it: We will not accept anything that goes against our dignity as a nation,” said Pena Nieto, prompting the largest applause of the day from a crowd of gathered dignitaries. “I am sure that in unity we will be able to defend the dignity of Mexico and its national interest.”
The Mexican president did not mention President Donald Trump by name during his 70-minute speech at the National Palace in downtown Mexico City.
But his comments underscored a more robust stance that Mexico City has assumed in the face of Washington’s continued threats to cancel the North American Free Trade Agreement — a cornerstone of Mexico’s economy — and Trump’s insistence that Mexico will foot the bill for his plan to build a wall along the border.
The Mexican president did not refer directly the contentious wall proposal — he has repeatedly insisted that Mexico will not pay for it — but assured the country that Mexico’s interests would be paramount in ongoing talks to retool NAFTA.
Pena Nieto also sent out Mexico’s “recognition, admiration and solidarity without reserve” to the “young dreamers,” immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as minors and are shielded from deportation under an Obama administration initiative known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.
Trump is expected to announce on Tuesday whether he will terminate the so-called DACA program, which has provided temporary legal status to almost 800,000 young men and women, mostly from Mexico. More than one-quarter of DACA beneficiaries reside in California.
Pena Nieto’s address came as officials from Mexico, the U.S. and Canada are in Mexico City engaging in the second round of complex talks to renegotiate the 23-year-old pact that eased trade barriers between the three nations.
Trump has repeatedly labeled NAFTA a “disaster” for the United States and threatened to scrap the deal. U.S. negotiators are seeking substantial changes to help reduce Washington’s more than $60-billion annual trade deficit with Mexico.
Mexico has said it will pull out of the NAFTA talks if Trump gives the required six-month notice indicating that the United States plans to terminate the trade pact.
Few expect major breakthroughs in the current round of NAFTA negotiations, which are scheduled to end Tuesday. Future rounds of negotiations in all three countries are expected to drag on through the end of the year at least.
Pointedly, Pena Nieto signaled that Mexico was keen to broaden its economic relationship beyond the United States, which accounts for about 80 percent of Mexico’s foreign trade.
“The prosperity of Mexico does not depend on one sole relationship, but rather on the maintenance of mutually beneficial links with countries all over the world,” he said, adding that Mexico “has a global vision.”
