A Poised Mexico Sees Trump Anew: a ‘Bluffer’ at the Poker Table

By Kirk Semple & Elizabeth Malkin @ NewYorkTimes.com, April 27

Mexico City -- [....] on Wednesday, the suggestion from the White House that Mr. Trump was finalizing an executive order to begin the process of withdrawing the United States from Nafta revealed a different, more experienced Mexico: one learning to live with what it considers Mr. Trump’s bluster and stagecraft, and not inclined to react publicly too quickly.

“It seems like he’s sitting at a poker table bluffing rather than making serious decisions,” said Senator Armando Ríos Piter, a Mexican legislator. “In front of a bluffer, you always have to maintain a firm and dignified position.”

Still, as rumors of the executive order circulated in Washington and Mexico City on Wednesday, President Enrique Peña Nieto of Mexico called Mr. Trump. And later that night, Mr. Trump issued a statement saying that he was not seeking to withdraw from Nafta, but instead “to bring Nafta up-to-date through renegotiation.”

Mr. Peña Nieto then issued a brief statement of his own, saying he, Mr. Trump and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada had a “shared objective to modernize” the trade agreement.

On Thursday, Mr. Trump said on Twitter that he had received phone calls from Mr. Peña Nieto and Mr. Trudeau and agreed to renegotiate the treaty instead of pulling out.

Mr. Trump had also come under pressure from congressional Republicans and business leaders alarmed by the possibility that he would move hastily toward a withdrawal [....]