Mexico’s former president is once again sounding the alarm over populist politics, likening the country’s current leader to one of his greatest nemeses.

“This phenomenon is spreading out in the world: Those populist demagogues. They promise and promise. They are false prophets, messiahs illuminated,” former Mexican president Vicente Fox said of sitting President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

“And people follow them, because people are, in a way, desperate.”

Fox’s criticism of Lopez Obrador has a similar ring to the two-plus years of harsh criticism he has thrown at U.S. President Donald Trump, including questioning both leader’s economic aptitude.

“He doesn’t have knowledge about how to run a modern economy,” Fox – who served as Mexican president from 2000 to 2006 – said of Lopez Obrador.

“These [rating agencies] are already watching after him. They can already see that he’s getting [the] Mexican economy into more problems, getting the oil and energy industry into a dip, a potential crisis.”

Last week Standard and Poors slashed its outlook for Mexico’s credit rating. On Tuesday the rating ageny reduced its outlook for state oil company Pemex to negative from stable and has slashed the outlook for several other major Mexican firms, including the country’s division of Coca-Cola.

Fox warned that the country could be on the verge of “the severest crisis” in its history if its planned energy reform is scrapped. Lopez Obrador called the reforms initiated by his predecessor – Enrique Pena Nieto – “a disaster” at his Dec. 3 inauguration.

“We need to continue with the energy reform, but this guy – again – seems to be trying to cancel the reform. That would be criminal. That will bring the severest crisis that Mexico ever has had, if they cancelled energy reform,” he said.

“The investment that’s already committed: Billions and billions of U.S. dollars are coming in to invest. Drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, deep drilling to extract is coming, is being invested, and Pemex doesn’t have the capacity to do that.”

However, Fox could not contain his criticism to Lopez Obrador alone, taking Trump to task over his proposed border wall and delays ratifying the new North American free trade accord.

“Senor Trump doesn’t know a bit about macro-economy and he’s making a lot of mistakes,” Fox said. “But I hope NAFTA will survive and keep on being there for another 25 years. It’s great for the three of us.”

He was less keen on Trump’s continued presence in the Oval Office.

“He’s a danger for the world. He’s a danger for the United States,” Fox, who stressed that his grandfather was an American, said.

“I love America. But this guy is the worst mistake that they have committed in the United States in the last century.”