An otherwise businesslike White House statement on Mexico showed just how much U.S. policy toward its southern neighbor could soon change.  

The Obama administration released what’s called a “readout” of Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. ’s Wednesday telephone conversation with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto . It states that Biden talked up Mexico as a “bilateral partner” and a “regional leader,” and mentions calls for “deeper” integration of energy projects. Biden also credited Pena Nieto for his government’s recent judicial policy changes.  

Now imagine the same conversation between a senior Trump administration official and the president of a country the presumptive GOP presidential nominee said sends “rapists” and drug pushers and “criminals”  to the United States.  

[One Reason Donald Trump Should Be President]

Oh, and then there’s his idea of building a massive wall along the nearly 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexican border to halt the flow of unauthorized immigrants into the “land of the free and the home of the brave.”  

“I will build a great, great wall on our southern border, and I will make Mexico pay for that wall,” Trump said as his unpredictable presidential bid got underway.   

So, yeah, these now-routine diplomatic check-in calls could be very different in just six months.  

Contact Bennett at johnbennett@cqrollcall.com. Follow on Twitter @BennettJohnT.