Trump's phone call with Mexican president 'was good' but he says 'they made us look foolish' in past

US President Donald Trump and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto have spoken on the telephone following the cancellation of a meeting between the pair in a dispute over payment of a border wall.

During his press conference with UK Prime Minister Theresa May, Trump took the opportunity to state he had spoken with Pena Nieto and that the pair would be working towards a fair relationship in future.

"We had a very good call. I have been very strong on Mexico, I have great respect for Mexico, I love the Mexican people. I work with the Mexican people all the time – great relationships," Trump said.

"But as you know Mexico with the US has out negotiated us and beat us to a pulp with our past leaders. They have made us look foolish.

"We have a trade deficit of 60 billion dollars with Mexico, on top of that the border is so often weak, drugs are pouring in and I am not going to let that happen.

"We have a really very good relationship the president and I, and we had a talk that lasted for about an hour this morning and we are going to be working on a fair relationship and a new relationship," he added.

"We're no longer going to be the country that doesn't know what its doing, so we are going to renegotiate our trade deals and we are going to renegotiate other aspects our relationship with Mexico and in the end I think it will be good for both countries.

"It was a very, very friendly call, I think you will hear that from the president and I think you will hear that from the people of Mexico."

Trump's tone towards Pena Nieto was far more conciliatory than in previous days, when the pair had hit out at one another over who would pay for a wall on the US southern border with Mexico.

"With respect to the payment for the border wall, both presidents recognised their clear and very public difference between their stances on this very sensitive issue," according to a statement from the Mexican president's office reported by the New York Times.

"The presidents also agreed for now to not speak publicly about this controversial issue."