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Speaking to White House reporters, the president said he and Lopez Obrador discussed border security, NAFTA and a separate US-Mexico trade deal. He said he expected relations between the two countries to be very good, and praised Mexico's Sunday election.
Trump said they two had had a thirty minute conversation, during which he commended Lopez Obrador's strong showing in the election. "I think he's going to try to help us with the border," the president said. "We have unbelievably bad border laws, immigration laws… and Mexico has very strong immigration laws, so they can help us until we straighten out our immigration laws."
Trump's comments came as he welcomed Prime Minister Mark Rutte of the Netherlands to the White House for talks.
Trump's relationship with Mexico has been rocky since before he took office, suggesting Mexican immigrants to the US were rapists, drug dealers and criminals during the campaign and promising to build a "beautiful wall" between the two nations to prevent illegal immigration. The president has struggled to get financing to build the promised wall, however.