With Hurricane Harvey raging, a good neighbor could literally be a lifesaver, and no one in their right mind would turn down their help, but of course Donald Trump might. Trump hasn’t made up his mind whether to accept the offer of help, which was made after a bizarre Twitter rant on Sunday which would discourage lesser neighbors.
As Trump woke up to calamity on Sunday, he tweeted the following:
“With Mexico being one of the highest crime nations in the world we must have THE WALL. Mexico will pay for it through reimbursement/other.”
Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump
We are in the NAFTA (worst trade deal ever made) renegotiation process with Mexico & Canada.Both being very difficult,may have to terminate?
6:51 AM – Aug 27, 2017
Hint..Mexico comes out as ‘the bigger country’ in this tale.
Mexico’s foreign ministry responded to Trump’s tweets with a statement clarifying that it won’t “negotiate NAFTA, nor any other aspect of the bilateral relationship, through social media,” won’t “pay, under any circumstances, for a wall or physical barrier built on U.S. territory along the Mexican border,” but will offer “help and cooperation” to the U.S. government as it copes with the impact of Hurricane Harvey in Texas, “as good neighbors should always do in trying times.”
Mexico’s help is not insignificant as we saw during Katrina. Pictured, Mexican soldiers in route to the US border on 6 September 2005. The convoy was carrying water-treatment plants, mobile kitchens and supplies for the victims of Hurricane Katrina Milenio-Rocio Vazquez/AP
President Vicente Fox sent an army convoy and a naval vessel laden with food, water and medicine. By the end of their tree week operation in Louisiana and Mississippi, the Mexicans had served 170,000 meals, helped distribute more than 184,000 tons of supplies and conducted more than 500 medical consultations.
“Mexico and the United States are nations which are neighbors and friends which should always have solidarity in moments of difficulty,” Fox told NBC News at the time.