Mexican opposition urges president to cancel Trump meeting

Mexican opposition figures urged President Enrique Pena Nieto on Wednesday to cancel next week's meeting with US President Donald Trump to protest his demand of payment for a border wall.

"The announcement of @realDonaldTrump's wall before the visit of @EPN (Pena Nieto) is an affront to Mexico," Margarita Zavala, a potential 2018 presidential candidate of the conservative National Action Party (PAN), wrote on Twitter.

"The visit must be reconsidered," Zavala said hours before Trump's announcement, adding in Spanish a hashtag that translates to "no to the wall."

Trump signed two immigration-related decrees on Wednesday, including an order to begin work to "build a large physical barrier on the southern border," according to the White House.

The US leader has vowed to make Mexico reimburse the cost of building the massive barrier.

The move came as Mexico's foreign and economy ministers were in Washington to prepare Pena Nieto's own visit on January 31.

Pena Nieto's spokesman, Eduardo Sanchez, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Senator Armando Rios Piter, of the leftist Democratic Revolution Party (PRD), called the wall announcement a "hostile act" that should prompt Pena Nieto to scrap his trip.

Rio Piter also said there were "no conditions" to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), as demanded by the US leader, and that Trump should "decide on the USA's exit" from the pact.

Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo warned on Tuesday that Mexico could pull out of NAFTA if negotiations do not serve his country's interests.

PAN Senator Roberto Gil said the Mexican delegation's visit to Washington "only makes sense to notify (Americans) that there will be no EPN-Trump meeting on January 31."