Former President Donald Trump spoke affectionately about Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador during a speech in the Midwest and called him a “great friend” and “fantastic guy” despite the Mexican leader’s recent verbal attacks on the United States.
In his first Iowa event after declaring his campaign for president in 2024, Trump came out of the gate with high praise for Lopez Obrador despite the southern neighbor’s harsh words about its northern neighbor.
“I really liked the president of Mexico. He's a socialist, but, you know, can't have everything,” Trump said to an audience inside a theater in downtown Davenport on Monday evening. “He's a friend of mine. ... He’s a great guy. He's a fantastic guy.”
Trump did not specifically name Lopez Obrador, though his comments suggested him over his predecessor, Enrique Pena Nieto. Lopez Obrador was elected president in 2018, the year after Trump took office.
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Trump’s comments Monday were an olive branch to Mexico amid a recent icing of relations between both countries. Trump voiced plans to work with Lopez Obrador on trade, border, and immigration matters if he were to win a second term in the White House.
Last week, Lopez Obrador claimed the U.S. was less safe than Mexico after the Texas Department of Public Safety urged spring break travelers not to cross the border this month amid cartel violence.
“Mexico is safer than the United States. There is no issue with traveling safely through Mexico. That’s something the U.S. citizens also know, just like our fellow Mexicans that live in the U.S.,” Lopez Obrador said in a press conference last week.
Lopez Obrador’s claim came days after four U.S. citizens were kidnapped at gunpoint immediately after crossing the international border from Texas into the Mexican state Tamaulipas. Two of the Americans were killed in what transnational criminal organization the Gulf cartel has since claimed was a misdirected attack.
The State Department lists just two of Mexico’s 32 states without any travel advisory. Five states, including Tamaulipas, have the strongest advisory that Americans do not visit them.
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Trump did not compare the two countries but said Mexico was “very, very tough — very dangerous in many ways.”
“But they have a wonderful man leading it,” Trump said.