A brilliant move by the Trump campaign! A dramatic event with sweet anticipation about what could come out of this meeting given the public statements from both parties.

Mexican president sent invitations to the Republican candidate and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

Donald Trump is planning a quick trip Wednesday to Mexico to meet with President Enrique Peña Nieto, shortly before the Republican presidential nominee is slated to give a speech on immigration in Phoenix. The trip, which Mr. Trump announced late Tuesday and which was confirmed by the office of Mr. Peña Nieto, follows an invitation the Mexican president sent Friday to both Mr. Trump and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, according to Mr. Peña Nieto’s office. The president’s office said the invitation “was well received by both campaign teams.” The two men will meet in the Mexican President’s official residence, called Los Pinos, in the early afternoon and issue a statement immediately after. Neither will take any questions, according to a person familiar with the plans. A trip to Mexico would represent a dramatic development on a subject that has been a controversial centerpiece of Mr. Trump’s campaign. He has vowed repeatedly that he will build a wall along the southern border of the U.S. to keep out illegal immigrants, and has said he will persuade Mexico to pay for it.

In an interview with CNN in July, Mr. Peña Nieto said there was “no way” Mexico would pay for a border wall. Mr. Trump also has said he is opposed to the North American Free Trade Agreement, a pact that Mexico is party to and continues to support.

In a late-night statement, the Clinton campaign said that Mr. Trump “has painted Mexicans as ‘rapists’ and criminals and has promised to deport 16 million people, including children and U.S. citizens. He has said we should force Mexico to pay for his giant border wall.” It added: “What ultimately matters is what Donald Trump says to voters in Arizona, not Mexico, and whether he remains committed to the splitting up of families and deportation of millions.”

“For Trump, this makes perfect sense. He polishes his image,” said Mr. Hope. “What is Pena going to get out of this? Half price on the wall?”

Mr. Peña Nieto and his aides had debated in the past how to respond to the real estate mogul, with many aides suggesting he take an aggressive stand against him, according to a person familiar with the meetings. But the president has said he should not take sides in a U.S. election and instead should appear above the fray, that person said. But now the Mexican leader has inserted himself in the election through his invitation to both candidates, analysts said. “I don’t know why Pena is doing this, especially now. It doesn’t help him at home, and brings him and Mexico into the middle of the U.S. election process (at least for a day); a fraught place for a foreign president to be,” Shannon O’Neil, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, wrote in an email. Mexican officials are expected to try to use the occasion to get across Mexico’s views on immigration and trade, especially Nafta.

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