Trump announces intention to nominate ambassador to Mexico

WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump on Monday announced his intention to nominate the new US ambassador to Mexico, a key diplomatic post as US border dilemma remains unsolved.

In a statement issued by the White House, Trump announced his intention to nominate Christopher Landau, who "is a constitutional and appellate attorney who has briefed and argued appeals before the United States Supreme Court, Federal courts of appeals, and State appellate courts".

He is also a partner in the law firm of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP and was appointed in 2017 to a three-year term "as a member of the Judicial Conference Advisory Committee on Appellate Rules", the White House said.

Having earned his bachelor of arts degree from Harvard College, Landau is fluent in Spanish, said the White House.

The US former ambassador to Mexico is Roberta Jacobson. She arrived in Mexico in 2016 and officially left the nation in May last year, when bilateral relations soured over US proposal to build a wall along the border to fend off illegal immigrants, for which Washington has urged Mexico to pay.

On March 11, Trump presented to Congress a budget proposal for fiscal year 2020, seeking $8.6 billion for constructing additional sections of the wall along the US border with Mexico.