Pena Nieto leaves office as first Mexican leader in decades not to get a US state visit

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina _ Standing in front of both nations' flags, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto stood shoulder-to-shoulder with President Donald Trump, smiling for the cameras and shaking hands before sitting down to sign a new North American trade agreement.

But the visit wasn't in the East Room of the White House. Pena Nieto didn't get Trump to himself. (Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was there.) And it wasn't an official state visit.

In fact, Pena Nieto is the first Mexican president in more than half a century not to be honored with a state visit to the United States _ reflecting how far relations have fallen between the United States and America's most important bilateral partner.