Former Mexican President Vicente Fox (shown), speaking in an interview with Breitbart News on May 4, apologized for the vulgar statement he had directed at presidential candidate Donald Trump during an interview with Univision and Fusion anchor Jorge Ramos last February 25.
During that interview, Fox said he would not pay for Trump’s “f—–g wall.”
Shortly afterwards, Trump tweeted this message:
FMR PRES of Mexico, Vicente Fox horribly used the F word when discussing the wall. He must apologize! If I did that there would be a uproar!
Since February, Trump has become the presumed Republican presidential nominee, as the remaining GOP candidates, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Gov. John Kasich (R-Ohio) have dropped out of the race. Perhaps it is that reality that has caused Fox to seek a more conciliatory relationship with Trump.
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During the interview, which was conducted in a Marriott hotel in Santa Monica, California, Fox openly directed this message to Trump:
I apologize. Forgiveness is one of the greatest qualities that human beings have, is the quality of a compassionate leader. You have to be humble. You have to be compassionate. You have to love thy neighbor.
However, in continuing, Fox also asked for reciprocal consideration from Trump, as well:
Love your nation. Love the world. Yes, I’m humble enough as leadership [to be a] compassionate leader. If I offended you, I’m sorry. But what about the other way around?
Fox summarized his open message to Trump by telling Breitbart that the probable GOP nominee should not “follow the strategy of attacking others, offending others, to get to his purpose. There are other ways and means of doing it. I invite him to come to Mexico and to see what Mexico is all about.”
Fox said he might be able to influence Trump’s thinking about trade and other issues involving their two countries, saying: “I can convince him to think intelligently.”
The day after Fox’s interview, which was May 5, or Cinco de Mayo — the anniversary of the Meixcan victory over invading French forces at the Battle of Puebla in 1862 — Trump seemed to be reaching out to the Hispanic community. He tweeted: “Happy #CincoDeMayo! The best taco bowls are made in Trump Tower Grill. I love Hispanics!”
When we look back at Fox’s relationship with the United States during his term as Mexico’s president from 2000 through 2006, we can see that he was a key player in the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP), which he co-founded in Waco, Texas, on March 23, 2005, with then Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin and then U.S. President George W. Bush.
At a follow-up summit held in Montebello, Quebec, in August 2007, President Bush met with Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the new Mexican President Felipe Calderón. At the conclusion of the conference, Fox News reporter Bret Baier asked all three heads of government, “Can you say today that this is not a prelude to a North American Union, similar to a European Union?”
There may be good reason why Fox would want to reach out to a Republican candidate for president. In “Immigration for Change,” a video posted online in July 2014 by The John Birch Society (with which The New American is affiliated), JBS CEO Art Thompson noted:
The Republicans are equally involved, because don’t forget, it was George H.W. Bush who wanted to unify all of the Western Hemisphere through the Free Trade Area of the Americas (the FTAA), and also it was George W. Bush, meeting with [Vicente] Fox and [Paul] Martin of Canada [who met at Waco, Texas, in March 2005 to sign an accord called the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America] that wanted to promote a North American Union, to merge all of North America into one country — comprised of Canada, the United States, and Mexico. These were Republicans. They wanted no borders, and said so…. They wanted free flow of people under all conditions…. Such a thing as that would be so disruptive to the American society that it would [destroy] our government, our form of government, ultimately, but the decisions that would be made would be based on the population that we would have within our country, which would then be North America.
At least based on his rhetoric, Trump seems to be particularly unsympathetic to the kind of North American Union that Fox was willing to create with Bush and Martin. After all, he has been openly critical of NAFTA, which was a stepping-stone to creating a North American Union, just as the Common Market was a stepping-stone to creating the European Union. Trump has said that NAFTA “is the worst economic development deal ever signed in the history of our country.” He added: “Trade deal, I guess you’d call it, the worst trade deal ever signed in the history of our country — it’s cleaned out vast portions of our manufacturing businesses and more.”
During the same Breitbart News interview in which he apologized to Trump for his off-color comments about Trump’s plan to build a wall along the U.S-Mexican border, Fox could not have been more enthusiastic in his praise for NAFTA:
NAFTA is a good thing. NAFTA is a miracle. It is because it’s a partnership of three economies. NAFTA has created the largest trade balance between two economies, which is Mexico and the United States. The largest in the world.
NAFTA was negotiated by President George H.W. Bush, signed by President Bill Clinton, and went into effect in 1994.
After Trump called NAFTA the worst trade deal “perhaps in the history of the world,” Fox responded to Breitbart:
Mexico buys, Mexico imports from United States products, goods and services in an amount larger than $750 billion U.S. dollars. This means millions, literally millions, of jobs to U.S. citizens and its estimated to be over an about 10 million. So, 10 million families in the United States live and have a job because of Mexican imports, so we’re a solid reliable partner to the United States….
This is why I invite […] Donald Trump either to discuss with me these figures or to come to Mexico, that would be much better because he will see what happens.
The differences between Fox and Trump on NAFTA are much more significant than their differences concerning Trump’s proposed wall. If Trump accepts Fox’s invitation to go to Mexico to discuss such matters, it will be interesting to see which man is more successful in persuading the other.
Photo of Vicente Fox: AP Images
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North American Union: From NAFTA to the NAU
