Senior White House adviser Jared Kushner will travel to Mexico on Wednesday to meet with President Enrique Peña Nieto amid a chilling of relations between the U.S. and its neighbor.
Reuters, citing statements from Mexico’s foreign ministry and a senior administration official, reports that President Trump’s son-in-law will discuss immigration, trade and security.
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Kushner is also expected to meet with Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray, who orchestrated Trump’s 2016 visit to the country during the height of Trump’s presidential campaign.
The trip comes slightly more than a week after Peña Nieto cancelled plans to visit Washington after a phone call with the president, during which Trump reportedly became frustrated and “lost his temper,” according to a Mexican official.
Trump and Peña Nieto have clashed publicly over Trump’s demand that Mexico pay for his signature campaign promise: A border wall along stretches across the U.S.’s southern border with the country. Peña Nieto has refused, and reportedly demanded that Trump make it clear publicly that it will not happen.
Kushner, who recently had his temporary top secret security clearance downgraded by chief of staff John Kelly alongside other White House officials, is now filling roles that his lowered status allows.
“I see it as one of the few things of consequence that he can do that don’t require security clearance,” former Mexican congressman Agustin Barrios Gómez told Reuters.
In a statement at the time of Kushner’s security clearance downgrade, Kelly said that the president’s son-in-law was “integral” to the Trump administration’s relationship with Mexico.
“Everyone in the White House is grateful for these valuable contributions to furthering the president’s agenda,” Kelly added at the time.