--- title: Trump Had Trouble Getting the Mexican President on the Phone description: Trump had trouble getting Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto on the phone to discuss NAFTA while on live TV. canonical: https://time.com/5379170/trump-pena-nieto-phone/ author: Ashley Hoffman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-08-27T16:55:41.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-13T07:52:14.727Z og:title: President Trump Had Some Trouble Getting Ahold of Mexico’s President on Live TV og:description: "Enrique?" og:url: https://time.com/5379170/trump-pena-nieto-phone/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta041472b9002d56f/698938c722fb85088ee26892/trumpmexicopresident.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: President Trump Announces Revised NAFTA Deal With Mexico og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Trump Had Some Trouble Getting Ahold of Mexico’s President on Live TV twitter:description: "Enrique?" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta041472b9002d56f/698938c722fb85088ee26892/trumpmexicopresident.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump Had Some Trouble Getting Ahold of Mexico’s President on Live TV > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=5c7074dc-3dbd-4ac3-9e52-1ee2f24a7388&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: U.S. and Mexico Tentatively Set to Replace NAFTA With New Deal [Watch (HLS stream): U.S. and Mexico Tentatively Set to Replace NAFTA With New Deal](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/wnkGZSfx.m3u8) (2:05)  _Published 2018-08-27. Trump Announces Trade 'Understanding' with Mexico_ by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Aug 27, 2018 4:55 PM UTC by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Aug 27, 2018 4:55 PM UTC Even the [President](http://time.com/5378173/trump-says-us-near-trade-agreement-with-mexico/) can experience phone issues at work. [Mexico’s](http://time.com/4473972/donald-trump-&/) President Enrique Peña Nieto joined President Donald Trump via speaker phone from the Oval Office regarding a preliminary deal to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Trump announced the U.S. had reached the preliminary agreement on trade that he heralded as “a big deal!” on Monday morning ahead of the call. But before he joined the call, Trump was left waiting for Nieto for a little less than a minute. It was the kind of moment you might expect to see in the hit comedy _The Office_. “Enrique?” he asked while on speakerphone. No answer. It may have been the Oval Office and an especially important phone call. But for people watching the moment live, it was oddly relatable. Suffice it to say it quickly lit up the internet. See reactions to the moment below. > [](https://twitter.com/bubbaprog/status/1034104551555690496) > [](https://twitter.com/RiegerReport/status/1034104897766137856) > [](https://twitter.com/SteveKopack/status/1034106141771530240) > [](https://twitter.com/eliotnelson/status/1034104673572204545) > [](https://twitter.com/BPatrickNormal/status/1034108469836537857) > [](https://twitter.com/MRLiepis/status/1034108081930731525) > [](https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1034105790154588161) ## Transcript It's a big day for trade. Big day for our country. A lot of people thought we'd never get here. Because we all negotiate tough. We do, so does Mexico. And this is a tremendous thing. They used to call it NAFTA. We're gonna call it the United States Mexico Trade Agreement. And we'll get rid of the name NAFTA. Has a bad connotation because the United States was hurt very badly by NAFTA for many years and now it's a really good deal for both countries and we look very much forward to it and I believe the President is on the phone. Enrique [ BLANK_AUDIO ] Yeah, you can hook them up. [ INAUDIBLE ] You tell me when. How are you? [ INAUDIBLE ] It's a big thing. A lot of people waiting. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] Hello? [ BLANK_AUDIO ] You wanna put that on this phone please? Hello? [ BLANK_AUDIO ] Be helpful. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] President Trump Thank you. [ INAUDIBLE ] President Trump, how are you? Good morning. Thank you Enrique and congratulations that's really a fantastic thing. We've all worked very had. Your brilliant representatives are sitting right in front of me, and I thought we would congratulate each other before it got out. And I know we'll have a formal news conference in the not too distant future. 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