[Published: Wednesday November 28 2018]
 Mexicans decry decision to honour Jared Kushner
MEXICO CITY 28 Nov (ANA) - Mexico's outgoing government has conferred the country's highest civilian honour for foreigners to US President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, a decision that has caused a social media outcry.
President Enrique Pena Nieto is expected to bestow the Order of the Aztec on Kushner, who is also a senior White House adviser, in a ceremony on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Buenos Aires on Thursday, Mexico's Reforma newspaper reported.
Peña Nieto defended his decision during a work tour in the State of Sinaloa.
"It is an attribution of the president and I want to give it to him," he told reporters who asked to justify the announcement. "I want to recognise [the person] who has been a great ally of Mexico," said the president.
The 37-year-old has been credited with renegotiating the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between Mexico, the United States and Canada.
The revised agreement, known as the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), replaced the nearly 25-year-old NAFTA, which the US president had labelled a disaster and promised to cancel.
"Mr Kushner's participating was decisive in initiating the process of renegotiating NAFTA, preventing a unilateral exit from the United States of said treaty, and his constant and effective involvement was key to achieving a successful conclusion of the negotiations," read a Mexican foreign ministry statement.
US National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow said on Tuesday that leaders from the three North American countries are expected to sign the new trade deal during the G20 summit.
Mexicans on Twitter, however, seemed to be of a different opinion, with many questioning the reasoning behind the decision.(ANA)
FA/ANA/28 November 2018-------
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