WASHINGTON — Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Friday that she and President Trump had a “cordial” hourlong meeting in Washington that ended with both leaders extending invitations to visit each other’s country.

“We’ll arrange a date later,” Sheinbaum told reporters outside the Mexican Cultural Institute.

The meeting was the first time the two had met face to face and followed months of clashes between the United States and Mexico over contentious issues such as trade, immigration and how to combat drug trafficking.

But on Friday, the two world leaders were brought together by soccer.

Sheinbaum was in Washington to attend the FIFA World Cup 2026 draw at the Kennedy Center, alongside Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. The U.S., Mexico and Canada are co-hosting the soccer tournament, which begins in June.

In a social media post, Sheinbaum said the three leaders talked about “the great opportunity that the 2026 FIFA World Cup represents for the three countries and about the good relationships we have.”

“We agreed to continue working together on trade issue with our teams,” she added.

She later reiterated to reporters that the meeting had been “very positive,” and that she impressed upon Trump that Mexico is “extraordinary” country. She said she personally invited him to visit Mexico, and that he extended an invitation to come back to Washington.

Asked if Trump asked anything of her, she said he had “nothing in particular.”

After months of friction between the two countries, the meeting on Friday could break the ice and set the stage for policy negotiations as both presidents navigate pressures from their constituencies.

Since the start of his second term in January, Trump has threatened to impose large trade tariffs on Mexico, the United States’ largest trade partner — but so far, Sheinbaum has been able to stave off many tariffs.

Trump and his team have also been floating the prospect of U.S. strikes on suspected criminals and drug laboratories in Mexico. But Sheinbaum has insisted she would not allow the U.S. military to fight drug cartels within its nation’s borders.

The ongoing negotiations come as Mexicans’ attitudes toward Trump and the United States have continued to sour. In contrast, Mexicans continue to see their own government’s management of the border positively, according to a Pew Research Center report published in July.

The upbeat aftermath of Friday’s meeting belied profound differences of opinion between the leaders of two nations that have an almost 2,000-mile border and share deep economic, security and cultural ties.

The two North American presidents could hardly be more different: Sheinbaum is a scientist and life-long leftist activist who maintains a low-key demeanor; Trump is a real-estate scion who embraces right-wing talking points and craves being the center of attention.

Sheinbaum has had to walk a thin line as she has fought off Trump’s repeated threats to impose punishing tariffs on imports from Mexico, a nation heavily dependent on cross-border trade with the United States.

She has also rejected Trump’s suggestions that U.S. forces may intervene unilaterally in Mexico to attack drug cartels. She has maintained her mantra of “cooperation, not subordination,” even as Trump has mused about striking gangs in Mexico.

In various remarks, Trump has lauded Sheinbaum as “wonderful” and “brave,” while also declaring that she rejected U.S. military aid to fight Mexican cartels because she is is “scared to death” of the cartels.

Sheinbaum has assailed U.S. strikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean and Pacific that have left dozens dead. She has also declared Mexico’s opposition to U.S. military intervention in Venezuela or anywhere else in Latin America.

Repeatedly, the Mexican president has insisted that her country would be “nobody’s piñata.”

In his career, Trump has long used Mexico and Mexicans as a political punching bag, catering to anti-immigrant sentiment in the United States. Trump kicked off his 2016 presidential campaign declaring that Mexican immigrants were criminals, drug-runners and and “rapists” — though he acknowledged there were some “good people” among them — and repeatedly pledged to build “a big beautiful wall” along the U.S.-Mexico border that Mexico would pay for. It didn’t.

After Friday’s meeting, Ronald Johnson, the U.S. ambassador to Mexico, said on X that the encounter “reaffirmed a historic partnership based on results,” adding: “Their dialogue advances a high-level agenda focused on cooperation, security, and prosperity.”

Staff Writers Ceballos reported from Washington and McDonnell from Mexico City.

Congress has been back after the week-plus Thanksgiving Day break. And days are slipping off the calendar as lawmakers struggle to assemble a plan to address health care or defray the cost of spiking premiums.

The deadline is the end of the calendar year. But Fox is told that the insurance companies just need action by Jan. 15.

Still, that doesn’t give Congress much time to act. And, depending on the metric, the House is only scheduled to meet for nine days for the rest of 2025.

 The Senate is not as clear, but, unofficially, the Senate will only meet for nine more days as well.

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The House is scheduled to be in Tuesday through Friday. Then Dec. 15 through Dec. 19.

The Senate meets Monday. But it’s unclear if the Senate would meet Friday.

The Senate also meets Dec. 15 through at least Dec. 18. But anything beyond that is a little sketchy.

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However, this is where things get interesting.

The House originally was not scheduled to meet Dec. 19. But that date was added to the schedule a few weeks ago.

Some would interpret that added date as “code” for the possibility that the House may need to be in town the weekend of Dec. 20 to Dec. 21, and perhaps beyond. There is a possibility that the House could add days to the calendar around that period because Christmas Day isn’t until that Thursday.

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So, in theory, the House has a few extra days at its disposal to address issues before Dec.25. It would be a different matter if Christmas itself fell on say a Monday or Tuesday. 

So let me fillet the meaning of this.

House Republicans are aiming to release a health care plan in the coming days. But developing a coalition to support such a package — without bipartisan support and full-throated support from President Donald Trump — likely stymies any health care package.

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Keep in mind, Republicans have talked about an alternative plan to Obamacare since 2009, but have never passed anything. So, it’s truly hard to believe they can pass anything in the next 26 days.

The Senate is expected to take votes related to competing health care plans late next week. The GOP offering is still unclear.

Senate Democrats just unveiled a three-year extension of the current Obamacare subsidies. Any bill needs 60 yeas. So expect the Democrats’ plan to die immediately.

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Frankly, it’s likely that the failure of both plans in the Senate makes everyone get serious. Often in the Senate, something must first fail until the sides get serious about a compromise and begin to hustle.

That takes us back to the calendar.

Thus, with the deadline of skyrocketing health care premiums, it’s possible that Congress races up to and/or through the holidays to pass some sort of a health care fix before the end of 2025. 

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That’s why that weekend and days between Dec. 20 and Dec. 23, which are not on the congressional calendar, could be prime targets for Congress to work to pass something.

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That’s to say nothing of Congress returning after Christmas and trying to approve something before or around the New Year.

 Both bodies are technically slated to return to session Jan. 5.

And don’t forget, that the Senate passed its version of the original Obamacare plan just after dawn on Christmas Eve morning, 2009.

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Also lurking in the background: spending bills to fund the government.

Government funding expires at 11:59:59 p.m. Eastern Time on January 30. Nine of the 12 annual spending bills for Fiscal Year 2026 remain unfinished. The House expects to tackle a few bills before the end of the year.

But if Congress fails to address anything on health care before the end of January, the probability of another government shutdown increases exponentially.

So, I bid you “tidings of comfort and joy.”