Mexico’s top financial official, who urged President Enrique Peña Nieto to invite Donald Trump for a meetingthat has been largely seen as a disaster, has stepped down.
Peña Nieto said on Wednesday morning that he had accepted Finance Minister Luis Videgaray’s resignation. He immediately appointed former finance chief José Antonio Meade to the post.
According to multiple reports in Mexican news outlets, it was Videgaray’s idea to invite Trump last week. Videgaray holds a doctorate from MIT and was a one of Peña Nieto’s closest advisors.
Trump’s visit quickly took a political toll for Peña Nieto. A survey published by the Reforma newspaper found that 85 percent of respondents said the meeting was a mistake. Almost two-thirds of respondents said their opinion of the president declined.
The president has insisted that he told Trump that Mexico would never pay for a border wall. Trump has said Mexicans will pay, but just don’t know it yet.
