Trump is a ‘crazy guy,’ says former Mexican President Vicente Fox

President Donald Trump is damaging the United States’ relationship with Mexico and taking a “stupid” position regarding immigration by telling his supporters that Mexico will pay for a massive border wall, says former Mexican President Vicente Fox.

Fox, an opponent of Trump and his policies, will be in Fresno on Wednesday to deliver a San Joaquin Valley Town Hall lecture titled, “Building Bridges: Fixing the Immigration Issue and Strengthening U.S.-Mexico Relations.”

Here is more of what Fox told The Bee in an interview Thursday:

Immigration – “We must bring order to the border. We must bring order to the migration issue. But that’s not done with a wall. That’s done with negotiation, working together and solving our problems, like President Bush and my administration did.”

Fox was president of Mexico from 2000 to 2006.

He said the U.S. government has the right to build a wall, but it won’t deter people who want to move to pursue other opportunities. The “idea to force Mexico to pay for that wall – that is a stupid proposal. … It’s impossible that he can charge Mexico for that wall.”

Fox said a border wall would cost an estimated $35 billion and that Trump should instead use that money to rebuild areas devastated by hurricanes, including Florida, Texas and Puerto Rico.

U.S.-Mexico relationship – Fox said Trump is damaging a positive relationship between the U.S. and Mexico that took many years to build.

Trump should talk with Mexicans “like partners, like friends, like neighbors,” Fox said, “not just out of a position of power.”

“We have built so many good things. We cannot just throw them out the window and forget about them. It’s not fair that one guy, one single guy, has taken so damaging a position for both of us – for the U.S. and for Mexico.”

President Trump’s conduct – Fox said Trump is doing too much on his own, bypassing Congress and a system of checks and balances.

“In Latin America, we recognize that as dictator behavior. … He will pay, sooner or later, the price of being so authoritarian.”

Fox criticized Trump’s rhetoric about Mexicans, including the speech Trump gave announcing his bid for president, when he said: “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best ... They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”

Fox’s response: “It’s wrong to say that Mexicans are rapists and Mexicans are criminals. It’s wrong to say it. It’s not a true statement. … (Trump) is a guy that is crazy. I have to say, it’s a pathological crazy guy.”

America’s role in the world – Fox said the United States made commitments in the past to other nations that need to be upheld and that the U.S. should not be “abandoning its leadership around the world and just letting irresponsible things to happen in other nations.”

And leaders should lead with tact: “The idea of using power and atomic bombs to control everybody is absolutely a wrong idea. It will only bring problems.”

If Trump follows through with his threats to withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement, Fox said, that would be a “historical mistake” that would “make the U.S. economy softer” and harm economies of countries around the world.

In an interview with Forbes published Oct. 10, Trump was quoted saying, “I happen to think that NAFTA will have to be terminated if we’re going to make it good. Otherwise, I believe you can’t negotiate a good deal.”

Fox said Trump is “not going to get back the jobs he claims Mexico took away.” Regarding the auto industry, for example, “manufacturing in the U.S. is not competitive anymore.”

“It is wrong to say that Mexico took away jobs. It’s technology, it’s robotics, it’s competitiveness that took it away. It’s not Mexico.”

Fox was a former Coca-Cola executive in Latin America and governor of Guanajuato. He now works promoting social and economic development, along with education and public accountability, through his foundation, Centro Fox, and serves as co-president of the Centrist Democrat International, an international organization of Christian democratic political parties.

This story was originally published October 15, 2017 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Trump is a ‘crazy guy,’ says former Mexican President Vicente Fox."