From Tweet to Trade War, Trump Shreds US-Mexico Relations in 24 Hours

Update 3:50pm EST:

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer indicated that Trump plans to pay for the border wall by imposing a 20 percent tariff on all imported goods, provoking fears of a trade war:

Update 12pm EST:

Mexico President Enrique Peña Nieto has canceled a planned meeting with President Donald Trump—which would have been the first between the two leaders—apparently in response to Trump’s hostile comments about Mexico’s refusal to pay for a new U.S.-Mexico border wall.

Peña Nieto announced his decision on Twitter. “This morning we have informed the White House that I will not attend the meeting scheduled for next Tuesday with the @POTUS,” the tweet says, according to an online translation.

Amid the dust-up about the border wall, it emerged Thursday that U.S. Border Patrol chief Mark Morgan is leaving the agency, the Associated Press reported, although it is unclear whether he resigned or was asked to leave.

As many have observed, Trump’s insistence on a new border wall between the U.S. and Mexico comes as undocumented border crossings have already sunk to a 40-year low.

Earlier:

Mexico President Enrique Peña Nieto on Wednesday once again asserted that Mexicans will not pay for President Donald Trump’s border wall between the U.S. and Mexico—and Trump responded with a series of aggressive tweets challenging Nieto to cancel an upcoming meeting between the two leaders.