MEXICO CITY: Sheinbaum’s comments on US intervention hardened as Mexico’s president rejected any foreign military role in cartel operations amid pressure from President Donald Trump.
Claudia Sheinbaum said Mexico would cooperate with Washington but would not accept subordination or intervention.
The sovereignty dispute followed renewed US pressure over drug cartels, fentanyl and trade. AP reported in January that Sheinbaum dismissed possible unilateral US military action in Mexico despite Trump’s threats to act against cartels.
Sheinbaum has tried to pair cooperation with a harder public line on sovereignty. Mexico has accepted several US security demands, including tougher cartel measures and more extraditions, while continuing to reject US troops on Mexican soil, AP reported.
The security backdrop intensified after Mexican forces targeted Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as “El Mencho,” head of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.
Reuters Connect carried images from Tapalpa, Jalisco, after a federal operation in which El Mencho died following a raid.
The operation showed Sheinbaum’s willingness to confront cartels without accepting US intervention. It also said Trump continued to press Mexico to do more against organised crime.
Trade pressure has added to the dispute. The Centre for Strategic and International Studies said the United States imposed 25 per cent tariffs in February 2025 linked to fentanyl, after which Sheinbaum deployed 10,000 National Guard troops to the northern border.
Read: Claudia Sheinbaum Elected Mexico’s First Woman President
The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement also remains central to the standoff. CSIS said Washington’s cartel designations and trade pressure have shaped the next phase of US-Mexico talks.
Sheinbaum, who took office in 2024 after serving as Mexico City mayor, has sought to distinguish herself from Andrés Manuel López Obrador while keeping Morena’s broad political project intact.
