Luis Videgaray, who was pushed out after controversial meeting, could foster close relations with incoming administration, President Enrique Peña Nieto said

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

A former cabinet secretary who was forced to resign after arranging Donald Trump’s visit to Mexico has been unexpectedly named foreign minister as the country prepares for a potentially rocky relationship with the incoming US president.

President Enrique Peña Nieto named ex-finance minister Luis Videgaray as foreign relations minister on Wednesday, apparently hoping that his most trusted adviser can court close relations with senior members of the Trump administration.

“With the change of government in the United States on 20 January, the instructions for secretary Videgaray is to accelerate dialogue and contacts so that from the first day the bases for building a constructive work relationship can be established,” Peña Nieto said in televised address to the nation.



“It should be a relationship, which will allow us to strengthen bilateral ties in security, immigration, commerce and investment.”



Videgaray stood down from his previous cabinet position in September, after Trump visited Mexico City for an encounter widely seen as a humiliating public relations disaster for Peña Nieto.

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The meeting transpired in spite of objections of the foreign ministry, but at the urging of Videgaray, Mexican media reported.

Mexicans expressed outrage with Peña Nieto, who appeared not to have challenged Trump over his expressed plans to make Mexico pay for his proposed border wall and deport millions of Mexican migrants

Videgaray resigned barely a week later, through political pundits suspected he still had the president’s ear.



Trump initially claimed Videgaray’s resignation as a personal victory, saying in an NBC News forum: “Look at the aftermath today, where the people that arranged the trip in Mexico have been forced out of government. That’s how well we did.”

Less than a day later, however, Trump described Videgaray on Twitter as “a brilliant finance minister and wonderful man”, adding: “With Luis, Mexico and the United States would have made wonderful deals together – where both Mexico and the US would have benefitted.”

Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) Mexico has lost a brilliant finance minister and wonderful man who I know is highly respected by President Peña Nieto.

The apparent change in tack was not lost on some in Mexico, where former president Vicente Fox – an outspoken critic of Trump – accused him of having a “two-face personality”.

Vicente Fox Quesada (@VicenteFoxQue) @realDonaldTrump, yesterday you took credit for his withdrawal and now you praise him? Don, you gotta stop this two-face personality.

Immediately after Trump’s election victory, Fox himself changed his tone, calling Peña Nieto “visionary” for inviting Trump and saying Videgaray “was right”.



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But Trump’s posture towards Mexico has not softened: he has maintained his pledges to expel undocumented Mexicans, and taken aim at US companies with factories in Mexico.

On Tuesday, Ford announced it would not proceed with a $1.6bn investment in the northern state of San Luis Potosí and will instead invest in a factory in Michigan.



Analysts in Mexico said they were not surprised by the return to prominence of Videgaray, who managed Peña Nieto’s presidential election campaign and served as finance minister, overseeing the approval and implementation of suite of structural reforms which won applause from international investors.

“It was bound to happen,” said Esteban Illades, editor of the Mexican magazine Nexos. “He’s the president’s brain.”

His time as finance secretary proved controversial, however. Public spending climbed during his time in office, along with indebtedness, while economic growth failed to meet the promised 5% growth per year.

