Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum stated on Saturday that President Donald Trump suggested deploying American troops into Mexico to assist her administration in battling drug trafficking, a proposal she unequivocally declined.
Her comments to supporters in eastern Mexico were a response to a Wall Street Journal article published the day prior, detailing a tense phone conversation last month where Trump reportedly urged her to accept an expanded role for the US military in the fight against drug cartels in Mexico.
“In one of the calls, Trump said, ‘How can we help you fight drug trafficking? I propose that the US Army come in to help you,'” recounted Sheinbaum during a university event near the capital on Saturday.
‘And you know what I told him? “No, President Trump, the territory is sacrosanct, sovereignty is sacrosanct, sovereignty is not for sale, sovereignty is loved and defended,”‘ the Mexican president said.
Sheinbaum added that while the two countries can collaborate, ‘we will never accept the presence of the United States military in our territory.’
White House National Security Council spokesman James Hewitt said in a statement later on Saturday that Trump has worked closely with Mexico’s president ‘to achieve the most secure southwest border in history.’
‘Dangerous Foreign Terrorist Organizations, however, continue to threaten our shared security and the drugs and crime they spread threaten American communities across the country,’ the statement said.
‘The President has been crystal clear that Mexico must do more to combat these gangs and cartels and the United States stands ready to assist and expand the already close cooperation between our two countries.’
The council spokesperson added that Trump had worked closely with Sheinbaum to achieve the ‘most secure southwest border in history’, however, ‘dangerous foreign terrorist organizations continue to threaten our shared security and the drugs and crime they spread threaten American communities across the country,’ the spokesperson said.
Trump himself said in an interview last week with conservative outlet The Blaze that he had offered to help Mexico fight the drug cartels, but that he had been turned down.
Without providing details, Trump told his interviewer: ‘You could say at some point maybe something’s gonna have to happen. It can’t go on the way it is.
‘Mexico is very, very afraid of the cartels. We want to help her. We want to help Mexico, because you can’t run a country like that. You just can’t.’
Trump has said publicly that the US would take unilateral military action if Mexico failed to dismantle drug cartels.
The two leaders have had several calls in recent months to discuss security issues, trade and immigration.
The Wall Street Journal reported ho tension between the two leaders rose towards the end of an April 16 telephone conversation when Trump pushed to have US armed forces take a leading role in tackling Mexican drug gangs that produce and smuggle fentanyl to the US.
The US military presence has increased steadily along its southern border with Mexico in recent months, following Trump’s order in January to increase the army’s role in stemming the flow of migrants.
The US Northern Command has surged troops and equipment to the border, increased manned surveillance flights to monitor fentanyl trafficking along the border and sought expanded authority for US Special Forces to work closely with Mexican forces conducting operations against cartels.
Trump designated many of the gangs and cartels including the Sinaloa Cartel smuggling drugs into the US as foreign terrorist organizations on February 19, restricting their movements and lending law enforcement more resources to act against them.
Some analysts have warned such designations could be a stepping stone to such military action.
Airborne surveillance of Mexican drug cartels by the US military has also increased, as part of efforts to collect intelligence to determine how to best counter their activities.
Sheinbaum has since proposed a constitutional reform aimed at adding protections to Mexico’s national sovereignty.
In her appearance Saturday, Sheinbaum said she had urged Trump to stop the cross-border arms trafficking that has contributed to a wave of violence lasting nearly two decades, claiming more than 450,000 lives in Mexico.
Her hardline stance signaled that US pressure for unilateral military intervention would put her and Trump on a collision course after months of cooperation on immigration and trade.
Sheinbaum went on to explain that during one of the calls she had asked Trump for help to prevent weapons from entering Mexico from the United States that fuel violence and trafficking.
‘We can collaborate, we can work together, but you can do it in your territory, we can do it in ours,’ Sheinbaum said.
Trump, on his part, has complained repeatedly about cross-border drug smuggling and has pressured Mexico to crack down on criminal cartels.
Trump angered Mexicans in early March when he said America’s southern neighbor was ‘dominated entirely by criminal cartels that murder, rape, torture and exercise total control… posing a grave threat to (US) national security.’
Trump has also long complained that Mexico has not done enough to stop the trafficking of migrants and drugs, particularly fentanyl, into the United States.
He has used the issue as an argument for imposing tariffs on the country.
Such topics have been part of an ongoing diplomatic dance between the countries over the trade tariffs.
Mexico, as the largest US trade partner and the second-largest economy in Latin America, is considered one of the most vulnerable to the US president’s expansive import duties.
Trump agreed to pause his tariffs in exchange for Mexico reinforcing their side of the border with 10,000 members of Mexico’s National Guard in February.
