Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Saturday that she rejected President Trump’s offer to send U.S. troops to the country to fight against drug trafficking.
In remarks to a university in Mexico, Sheinbaum responded to a Friday report from the Wall Street Journal about the two countries’ relationship amid the Trump administration’s efforts to crack down on illegal immigration and the flow of fentanyl coming from the southern border.
The piece stated that Trump suggested the U.S. send troops to Mexico, which Sheinbaum confirmed on Saturday.
“And do you know what I told him? No, President Trump,” she said Saturday in Spanish. “The territory cannot be violated. Sovereignty cannot be sold. Sovereignty is cherished and defended.”
“It’s not necessary. We can collaborate. We can work together,” Sheinbaum continued. “But you in your territory and us in ours. We can share information, but we will never accept the presence of the United States’ army in our territory.”
The Hill reached out to the White House for comment.
Earlier this year, Trump slapped tariffs on Mexico over his view that the country is not doing enough to curb the flow of fentanyl into the U.S. Many goods, under a 2020 trade agreement, are exempted from the levies.
In February, Sheinbaum sent 10,000 Mexican soldiers to the U.S. border in February amid the threats.
Last month, Trump also threatened to impose additional tariffs on the Latin American country over a water dispute. In response, Sheinbaum announced she would be sending water to Texas.
Amid Trump’s calls to crack down on fentanyl, the State Department declared several Mexican drug cartels as terrorist organizations in February after suggesting fentanyl overdoses were a direct result of drugs being smuggled across the southern border.
Sheinbaum has allowed the U.S. to conduct drone flights over Mexico to locate fentanyl labs in the northern part of the region.
But Trump has continued to press Sheinbaum despite her repeated denials regarding the potential presence of U.S. forces in the country.
“This cannot be an opportunity for the U.S. to invade our sovereignty. With Mexico, it is collaboration and coordination, never subordination or interventionism, and even less invasion,” Sheinbaum told reporters three months ago after Trump adviser Elon Musk suggested cartels identified by the State Department were eligible for strikes.
“The Mexican people will under no circumstances accept interventions, intrusions or any other action from abroad that is detrimental to the integrity, independence or sovereignty of the nation … [including] violations of Mexican territory, whether by land, sea or air,” she added at the time.
