Saying "the mexican government is smarter" during a conversation on illegal immigration, isn't the same thing ?
No. He says the same thing on trade. He implies over and over that the Mexican government is some savvy group of people. They are most certainly not that.
If you are going to credit the Mexican government with any kind of competence, you better be very specific - and flesh it out with a discussion of the particular policies they’ve enacted which make them so smart in that particular area.