The First Lady of the United States Melania Trump has appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair in Mexico, as US relations with the Mexican leader deteriorate.

She is pictured for the February issue of the magazine, poised with a fork over a bowl of jewels, as if preparing to eat them. One of the cover lines proclaims her as the "nueva Jackie Kennedy."

The publication says the profile looks at the "intriguing past" of Mrs Trump, borrowing from a story in GQ's edition last April. GQ and Vanity Fair are owned by the same parent company, Condé Nast.

Image: Vanity Fair Mexico

The decision to recycle the article and photos has been widely criticised on social media, with one user tweeting: "Melania Trump eating a plate of diamonds for breakfast on the cover of Vanity Fair Mexico – what a joke.”

A woman, tweeting under the name, Antonella wrote:  "Melania Trump on the cover of Vanity Fair Mexico is the new definition of irony in the Royal Spanish Academy dictionary."

Yesterday, President Enrique Peña Nieto cancelled a meeting with President Trump over his insistence that Mexico pay for the wall he intends to build along the border.

Trump administration officials later floated the idea of a 20% tariff on imports from Mexico to pay for the wall, a cost that would be passed in part to American consumers.

Vanity Fair feud

President Trump has previously feuded with Vanity Fair, tweeting editor Graydon Carter on the magazine's "really poor numbers."

"Way down, big trouble, dead!" he wrote. "Graydon Carter, no talent, will be out!"

In 2012, he tweeted, "Can't wait for Vanity Fair to fold which, under Graydon Carter, will be sooner rather than later."