On the campaign trail, Donald Trump made a habit of bashing Mexico like a drug-filled piñata. The beating began on Day One, when he declared Mexican immigrants “rapists” and criminals and accused the Mexican government of deliberately sending them over the border. “Some are good and some are rapists and some are killers,” he added in a follow-up interview. “We don’t even know what we’re getting.”

Things somehow got worse from there. Candidate Trump promised to build “a great wall” to keep illegal immigrants out and swore to “have Mexico pay for that wall.” It was, he suggested, a war for the very survival of the United States as a sovereign nation. “I love the Mexican people, but Mexico is not our friend. They’re killing us at the border and they're killing us on jobs and trade. FIGHT!”

All of which was fine, if horribly offensive, when he was merely a guy on Twitter and, later, a guy on Twitter running for president of the United States. Now, though, he actually has the job of running the country. And, as it turns out, it’s hard to conduct trade and diplomacy with Mexico when you’re constantly getting into spats with its leadership over the country's refusal to pay for your $21.6 billion eyesore on their border.

Luckily, Donald Trump is not handling day-to-day negotiations with Mexico, much as he would surely relish the opportunity to continue browbeating people who disagree with him. That job, according to Bloomberg, falls to top trade adviser Pete Navarro. And Navarro appears to be taking an entirely different approach than his boss:

Navarro, who as head of the White House National Trade Council will play a leading role in the effort to re-negotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, said in an interview the U.S. wants Mexico and Canada to unite in a regional manufacturing “ ‘powerhouse’ ” that will keep out parts from other countries.”

The Trump administration is re-examining a critical component of the free trade pact: the rules of origin, which dictate what percentage of a product must be manufactured in North America, Navarro said.

“We have a tremendous opportunity, with Mexico in particular, to use higher rules of origin to develop a mutually beneficial regional powerhouse where workers and manufacturers on both sides of the border will benefit enormously,” said Navarro, 67. “It’s just as much in their interests as it is in our interests to increase the rules of origin.”

That is a particularly welcome development for current president Enrique Peña Nieto, who is under pressure within his own country to stand up to Trump, negotiate a deal with the United States, and keep presidential challenger Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who has called out Trump’s “campaign of hatred,” at bay.

“These are encouraging words,” Marcela Guerra, Mexico’s chamber of commerce committee on North American relations told Bloomberg. “It is the right path toward effective competitiveness.”