Here's what Mexican leaders have said about Donald Trump
It's not every day that a U.S. presidential candidate meets with a foreign leader who has likened him to Hitler and Mussolini.
But that will happen Wednesday when Donald Trump sits down with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto.
Nieto and other Mexico leaders have had bracing things to say about the Republican nominee throughout his campaign.
Nieto compares Trump to Hitler, Mussolini
Nieto in a Mexican newspaper interview published March 7:
"There have been episodes in human history, unfortunately, where these expressions of this strident rhetoric have only led to very ominous situations in the history of humanity — that’s how Mussolini got in, that’s how Hitler got in. They took advantage of a situation, a problem perhaps, which humanity was going through at the time, after an economic crisis.”
Nieto, in a June 29 news conference with President Obama and Canadian Prime Minster Trudeau, discussed his previous comments that compared Trump to Hitler and Mussolini:
"In different places we are presented with political actors and political leaders who assume populist and demagogic positions, and try to eliminate or destroy ... that which has taken decades to build."
On July 22, after a White House meeting with President Obama, Nieto said his Hitler and Mussolini comments were "taken out of context," and he pledged to work with whoever is elected:
"But what we can say right now is that whomever is elected here as President, the Mexican government will be working in a very constructive manner, with good faith I am certain that the relationship between both countries goes beyond the mere economic environment."
But Nieto isn't the only one
Former president Vicente Fox on Wednesday apologized for his country's president inviting Trump and said the Republican nominee was taking advantage of the situation.
"Let me tell you, he is not welcome to Mexico. By 130 million people, we don't like him, we don't want him. We reject his message," Fox said on CNN's New Day Wednesday. "I don't understand why President Pena has offered this opportunity. I think it's nothing more than a political stunt. Trump is using Mexico, is using President Pena to boost his sinking poll numbers."
"I don't understand what's going on here, and I really apologize for our president taking this step forward," Fox said.
Fox has been one of Trump's most frequent critics throughout the year, and the two have engaged in spats following Fox's criticism. In February, Fox repeatedly said “I am not gonna pay for that f------ wall." He also lectured Trump on trade between the two countries, alleging that Trump didn't understand the NAFTA agreement. “I would invite this guy to drop out of the race and go back to his business,” Fox said.
But on Wednesday, Trump wanted to remind everyone that Fox, too, had invited him to meet in an interview with Breitbart.
Fox fired back later Wednesday morning.
Former president Felipe Calderon in February on CNBC said the country would not pay anything for the wall Trump has made a central part of his campaign and promised the Mexican government would pay for.
In March, Mexican Treasury Secretary Luis Videgaray said on Milenio television that "Mexico will under no circumstance pay for the wall that Mr. Trump is proposing."
Trump's visit with Nieto comes hours before he will take the stage in Phoenix to deliver a highly anticipated speech on immigration. Trump — who has made immigration one of the pillars of his campaign — recently said he would be opening to a "softening" on his policies and that he would be willing to work with undocumented immigrants who paid back taxes. But his campaign has remained adamant that Trump would not be changing his policies.