WASHINGTON Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will visit Mexico this week along with the Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly to discuss issues including border security with the southern neighbor amid frayed relations under new U.S. President Donald Trump.
Tillerson and Kelly will meet with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and other top Mexican officials during the two-day visit on Wednesday and Thursday, the State Department said in a statement.
They will discuss border security, law enforcement and trade, the State Department said.
The Feb. 22-23 visit comes amid tensions between the United States and Mexico since Trump took office on Jan. 20.
Trump has vowed to build a wall on the U.S. southern border, slap a hefty tax on Mexican-made goods entering the country and pull out of a trade deal with Mexico if he cannot renegotiate it to benefit the United States.
Pena Nieto canceled a planned January meeting of the two leaders in Washington after Trump said his counterpart should not attend if he was unwilling to pay for the wall.
Despite the tensions, senior Mexican and American military and interior officials spoke this month in a sign that communication remained open between the two countries.
(Reporting by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)
