So you want to play hardball Mr Trump? Mexico is to consider revoking a series of bilateral treaties — including the 1848 agreement that transferred half its territory to the US — if the Republican candidate wins the presidency and rips up the North American Free Trade Agreement, according to a bill to be presented to Congress.

The initiative, to be proposed today by Armando Ríos Piter, a leftwing senator, follows last week’s much-criticised meeting between Mexico’s President Enrique Pe?a Nieto and US presidential conten-der Donald Trump, which inflamed public opinion and sparked a cabinet rift.

Mr Pe?a Nieto has faced a backlash at home over what many saw as his red carpet treatment of Mr Trump during the latter’s visit, as the Republican has branded Mexicans “rapists” and wants to build a border wall that he insists Mexico will pay for.