US Ambassador: Ties with Mexico will survive “rough times”

MEXICO CITY – The U.S. ambassador to Mexico, Roberta Jacobson, said Thursday that the two countries may go through some “rough times,” but relations will get back on track.

“There’s no doubt that there are things being said in this election that are ugly, that are offensive to Mexicans and contrary to the reality,” but “there’s so much that is positive that’s happened in the relationship that it survives even if it’s tossed about a little bit,” Jacobson said.

“There may be rough times ahead for each country … but in the end we get back to business,” she added.

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto came under widespread criticism last week for inviting Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump to Mexico, without demanding that Trump apologize for comments suggesting Mexican migrants are criminals or “rapists.”

Finance Secretary Luis Videgaray, one of Pena Nieto’s closest advisers and confidants, resigned Wednesday in a move seen as linked to Trump’s visit.

Pena Nieto has taken responsibility for inviting Trump, but newspaper columnists in Mexico have reported that Videgaray was behind idea.

Trump himself said Videgaray’s resignation was related to his visit. Trump told a televised U.S. national security forum Wednesday night that “the people that arranged the trip in Mexico have been forced out of government. That’s how well we did.”

But on Thursday, Trump lamented Videgaray’s resignation.

“Mexico has lost a brilliant finance minister and wonderful man who I know is highly respected by President Peña Nieto,” Trump wrote in a tweet. “With Luis, Mexico and the United States would have made wonderful deals together — where both Mexico and the US would have benefited.”