WASHINGTON _ President Donald Trump spoke for an hour by telephone Friday morning with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, signaling a potential thaw in a standoff that heated to a boil Thursday.
The White House confirmed the call but has not yet released details.
"We had a very good call," Trump said Friday during a news conference with British Prime Minister Theresa May. "I have been very strong on Mexico. ... Mexico, with the United States, has out-negotiated us and beat us to a pulp. We are going to be working on a fair relationship. ... The United States cannot continue to lose vast amounts of business."
Pena Nieto on Thursday canceled a White House visit after Trump's signature on an executive order that cracked down on illegal immigration and ordered the initial steps toward building a border wall that is deeply unpopular in Mexico. Trump has said Mexico will pay for the wall, which Pena Nieto and other government officials have called a nonstarter.
The Trump administration also floated the imposition of a 20 percent tax on imports from Mexico and elsewhere Thursday.
The call came on the same day Trump welcomed May to the White House.
