Mexico City - U.S. President Donald Trump's son-in-law and senior White House adviser, Jared Kushner, will be awarded Mexico's Order of the Aztec Eagle, the country's highest honor granted to foreigners for their service to Mexico or to humanity.
Outgoing president Enrique Peña Nieto will give him the award on Thursday at the G20 world leaders summit in Argentina, reports said.
Criticism of the outgoing president awarding Kushner with the Order of the Aztec Eagle has been swift and harsh, trending on social media.
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| The Order of the Aztec Eagle medal is Mexico's highest decoration awarded to foreigners |
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Previous awardees of the Order of the Aztec Eagle include Colombian Nobel Prize-winning author Gabriel Garcia Marquez, former South African President, Nelson Mandela, Walt Disney and Bill Gates.
Kushner is being honored for his "significant contributions in achieving the renegotiation of the new agreement between Mexico, the United States and Canada," according to Mexico's foreign ministry. The three countries hashed out the deal over the past year to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement, better known as NAFTA.
The new trade deal, known as the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA, came after Mr. Trump threatened to pull the U.S. out of the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement, arguing that it was unfair to the United States.
On Saturday, Peña Nieto's successor, President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, will be inaugurated, following his landslide election victory in July. Kushner's wife, Ivanka Trump, and U.S. Vice-President, Mike Pence, are expected to be among the U.S. officials attending his swearing-in.
Sources: BBC • NPR