“A single decision in Mexico has so many potentially negative repercussions, not only in Mexico, but internationally as well,” he said.
Jesús Silva-Herzog, a Mexican academic, was more blunt, calling the encounter the "biggest stupidity in the history of the Mexican presidency."
Peña Nieto sent out a series of tweets after the meeting, saying he told Trump at the start that Mexico would not pay for wall, and the men proceeded to talk about other topics.
That didn't appear to help Peña Nieto, who was already suffering from historically low popularity ratings — less than 25% — after a series of corruption scandals and revelations that he plagiarized parts of a thesis he wrote for his law degree.
Hashtags calling on Peña Nieto to resign trended on Twitter after he met with Trump. “The humiliation is now complete,” tweeted Carlos Loret de Mola, a news anchor for broadcaster Televisa.
“Peña ended up pardoning Trump when no apology was asked for. The lowest point of the most painful day in the history of the Mexican presidency,” tweeted Esteban Illades, editor of the public affairs magazine Nexos.