WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump on Sunday stated Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum rejected his proposal to ship U.S. troops to Mexico to assist thwart the unlawful drug commerce as a result of she is terrified of the nation’s highly effective cartels.
The feedback by Trump got here a day after Sheinbaum confirmed that Trump pressed her in a name final month to simply accept an even bigger function for the U.S. army in combating drug cartels in Mexico.
Trump stated it was “true” that he proposed sending the troops to Mexico and lashed into Sheinbaum for dismissing the thought.
“Well she’s so afraid of the cartels she can’t walk, so you know that’s the reason,” Trump stated in feedback to reporters aboard Air Pressure One on Sunday. “And I think she’s a lovely woman. The president of Mexico is a lovely woman, but she is so afraid of the cartels that she can’t even think straight.”
The U.S. army presence alongside the southern border with Mexico has elevated steadily in current months, following Trump’s order in January to extend the military’s function in stemming the circulate of migrants.
Genaro Molina through Getty Photos
The U.S. Northern Command has surged troops and tools to the border, elevated manned surveillance flights to watch fentanyl trafficking alongside the border and sought expanded authority for U.S. Particular Forces to work carefully with Mexican forces conducting operations towards cartels.
However Sheinbaum stated that U.S. troops working inside Mexico was going too far.
“He said, ‘How can we help you fight drug trafficking? I propose that the United States military come in and help you.’ And you know what I said to him? ‘No, President Trump,’” she stated on Saturday. “Sovereignty is not for sale. Sovereignty is loved and defended.”
She added that she instructed Trump their two international locations “can work together, but you in your territory and us in ours.”
Trump in February designated as “foreign terrorist organizations” many gangs and cartels smuggling medication into the U.S. , limiting their actions and lending legislation enforcement extra sources to behave towards them.
However Sheinbaum’s stance — and Trump’s response — counsel that U.S. strain for unilateral army intervention may create pressure between the 2 leaders after cooperation on immigration and commerce within the early going of Trump’s second time period.
Trump stated the U.S. army is required to stem the scourge of fentanyl in america.
“They are bad news,” Trump stated of the cartels. “If Mexico wanted help with the cartels we would be honored to go in and do it. I told her that. I would be honored to go in and do it. The cartels are trying to destroy our country.”
The White Home has additionally linked its efforts to scale back the circulate of fentanyl to Trump’s tariff plan, saying he needs to carry Mexico, Canada, and China accountable for stemming the circulate of the drug into the U.S.
