WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Sunday mentioned 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 petrified 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 position for the U.S. army in combating drug cartels in Mexico.
Trump mentioned it was “true” that he proposed sending the troops to Mexico and lashed into Sheinbaum for dismissing the thought.
“Effectively she’s so afraid of the cartels she will’t stroll, so that’s the rationale,” Trump mentioned in feedback to reporters aboard Air Pressure One on Sunday. “And I feel she’s a stunning girl. The president of Mexico is a stunning girl, however she is so afraid of the cartels that she will’t even assume straight.”
The U.S. army presence alongside the southern border with Mexico has elevated steadily in latest months, following Trump’s order in January to extend the military’s position in stemming the stream of migrants.
The U.S. Northern Command has surged troops and equipment to the border, elevated manned surveillance flights to observe fentanyl trafficking alongside the border and sought expanded authority for U.S. Particular Forces to work carefully with Mexican forces conducting operations in opposition to cartels.
However Sheinbaum mentioned that U.S. troops working inside Mexico was going too far.
“He mentioned, ‘How can we enable you struggle drug trafficking? I suggest that the USA army are available and enable you.’ And what I mentioned to him? ‘No, President Trump,’” she mentioned on Saturday. “Sovereignty will not be on the market. Sovereignty is cherished and defended.”
She added that she advised Trump their two international locations “can work collectively, however you in your territory and us in ours.”
Trump in February designated as “overseas terrorist organizations” many gangs and cartels smuggling medication into the U.S. , proscribing their actions and lending regulation enforcement extra assets to behave in opposition to them.
However Sheinbaum’s stance — and Trump’s response — counsel that U.S. stress for unilateral army intervention might create stress between the 2 leaders after cooperation on immigration and commerce within the early going of Trump’s second time period.
Trump mentioned the U.S. army is required to stem the scourge of fentanyl in the USA.
“They’re unhealthy information,” Trump mentioned of the cartels. “If Mexico wished assist with the cartels we might be honored to go in and do it. I advised her that. I’d be honored to go in and do it. The cartels try to destroy our nation.”
The White Home has additionally linked its efforts to cut back the stream of fentanyl to Trump’s tariff plan, saying he needs to carry Mexico, Canada, and China accountable for stemming the stream of the drug into the U.S.
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