Trump tells Mexican president he wants US troops to fight drug cartels

Kate Linthicum, Los Angeles Times on May 3, 2025

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MEXICO CITY — Mexico's leader said Saturday that she rejected an offer by President Donald Trump to send U.S. troops into her country to fight drug cartels.

Speaking at a public event, President Claudia Sheinbaum confirmed a report published Friday in the Wall Street Journal that said that Trump had pressured Mexico to allow more U.S. military involvement in the drug war.

"It's true," Sheinbaum said. She said that on "some" private calls with the American leader in recent months, Trump said: "How can we help you fight drug trafficking? I propose that the United States Army enter to help you."

Sheinbaum said she rebuffed his proposal, saying: "No, President Trump, our territory is inalienable, sovereignty is inalienable ... We can collaborate, we can work together, but with you in your territory and us in ours. We can share information, but we will never accept the presence of the United States Army on our territory."

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Sheinbaum's account.

Since Trump returned to the White House in January, his administration has ramped up CIA surveillance drone flights over Mexico, formally designated drug cartels as "foreign terrorist" groups and has repeatedly floated the possibility of deploying troops there to fight organized crime. He has massed U.S. troops on the northern side of the U.S. border with Mexico to crack down on unauthorized immigration and drug smuggling.

Mexico is "essentially run by the cartels," Trump said earlier this year, insisting that the United States should "wage war" against them.

No administration in modern times has taken such a militaristic approach to Mexico, a U.S. ally that Trump blames for producing the fentanyl that has killed hundreds of thousands of Americans.

Trump's stance upends recent U.S. policy, which emphasized beefing up the rule of law in Mexico, and stands at odds with Mexico's security strategy, which has veered away from the sort of fierce cartel confrontations that drove record levels of bloodshed.

Trump's fixation on organized crime in Mexico has put Sheinbaum in a difficult position. She has tried to appease him to try to avert the potentially catastrophic tariffs that he has threatened unless Mexico cracks down on fentanyl trafficking. She sent thousands of National Guard troops to fortify the northern border and is transferring dozens of suspected cartel members to the U.S.

But she has also had to show fellow Mexicans that she is defending national sovereignty. Since Trump took office in January, nationalism has surged here.

On TikTok, users have demanded a boycott of American products, filming themselves pouring Coca Cola down the drain. Companies have embraced the red, green and white of the Mexican flag in ad campaigns.

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(Cecilia Sánchez Vidal in Mexico City and Michael Wilner in Washington contributed to this report..)

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