Phone call between Trump, Mexican president goes south

Provisional plans for President Donald Trump to host his Mexican counterpart in Washington have been put on hold, White House officials said Saturday.

The postponement of plans to meet this month or in March followed a testy telephone call between the two leaders earlier last week, the Washington Post reported, citing information from U.S. and Mexican officials.

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Trump and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto spoke for 50 minutes Tuesday, but reached a deadlock when Trump said he wouldn’t publicly acknowledge Mexico’s refusal to pay for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, Reuters reported.

According to a Mexican official, Trump lost his temper during the conversation because he thought it was unreasonable for Pena Nieto to want Trump to back off from the idea.

Trump’s promise to make Mexico pay for the wall was a staple of his 2016 campaign for the presidency.

Trump has since requested $23 billion in his latest budget proposal to Congress – the majority of which would go toward building the wall.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.