'Security, trade, migration' were top issues during Trump, Mexican president talk

Mexico City, Feb 21: US President Donald Trump and his Mexican counterpart Enrique Pena Nieto agreed to boost cooperation on security, trade and migration in a phone call, both countries said.

Tension between the two countries has soared over Trump's anti-Mexican rhetoric, but there are recent signs the two leaders are trying to smooth things over. Last week, the White House said the two presidents were working on arranging a meeting.

However, there was no mention of a meeting in yesterday's brief statements.

"President Trump underscored his commitment to expanding cooperation between the United States and Mexico on security, trade and immigration," the White House said.

Pena Nieto's office issued a similar statement. Both sides said the two leaders also exchanged condolences over last week's school shooting in Parkland, Florida and a military helicopter crash in the Mexican state of Oaxaca that killed 14 people.

Trump's vows to make Mexico pay for a wall on the border, attacks on Mexican immigrants and threats to scrap the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) have strained relations between the two neighbors. In January last year, Pena Nieto canceled a visit to Washington over Trump's insistence that Mexico pay for the wall. The two leaders later held their first meeting as presidents on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany in July.

PTI