President Trump and Jared Kushner Image by Getty Images

The Mexican government said Tuesday that it will award Jared Kushner with the Order of the Aztec Eagle, the highest honor the country gives to foreigners, “for his significant contributions in achieving the renegotiation of the new (trade) agreement between Mexico, the United States and Canada,” AP reported.

Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, was influential in renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement, according to Reuters. It is now called the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement.

Kushner “played a fundamental role during the whole process, displaying decisive support for the trade talks … thus achieving satisfactory results,” Mexico’s Foreign Relations Department said in a statement.

While he helped the $1.2 trillion trade zone stay afloat, the announcement of the award was perceived negatively by many in Mexico, where Trump is adamant about building a wall along its border with the U.S.

For one, Mexican historian Enrique Krauze wrote on Twitter that bestowing Kushner the Aztec Eagle was an act of “supreme humiliation and cowardice.”

“Kushner is the son-in-law of the man who called Mexicans ‘killers and rapists,’” Krauze posted.

Alyssa Fisher is a news writer at the Forward. Email her at [email protected], or follow her on Twitter at @alyssalfisher

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