Mexico has dug in its heels against Donald Trump’s repeated attempts to intervene in its neighbor’s territory under the pretext of combating drug trafficking. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has patiently rejected, time and again, in a firm but measured tone, the U.S. president’s constant offers for the U.S. military to conduct operations beyond its borders to subdue the drug cartels.
“It’s not that we don’t want support, but not with foreign troops,” the president reiterated this Tuesday, recalling that the last time the United States entered Mexico, “they took half of the territory.” Sheinbaum is hardening his position while continuing to perform diplomatic balancing acts in the face of Trump’s attacks, which calls into question the Mexican government’s security strategy, in what is increasingly looking like an affront to its sovereignty.
Ever since Trump first mentioned sending troops to Mexico during his second presidential campaign, the country has been preparing to counter every hint of interference in its security policy. Even after announcing his intention to seek reelection in 2024, the Republican has repeatedly stated that, if necessary, he would be prepared to send the U.S. military across the border to combat drug cartels. Sheinbaum has consistently countered the U.S. president’s threats. However, Trump’s rhetoric has escalated as he intensifies his aggressive foreign policy with extrajudicial attacks on alleged drug boats and flexes his muscles in the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean. These operations have put him at odds with the government of Gustavo Petro in Colombia and have further strained relations with Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela. Now, Mexico must confront the ever-present specter of U.S. interventionism.
To counter his counterpart’s bluster, Sheinbaum has clung to repeating his solution like a mantra: sovereignty, cooperation, and collaboration. Sheinbaum has agreed to the exchange of intelligence between the two countries to manage joint operations against drug cartels, but she is not willing to relinquish control of operations on Mexican soil.
“[Trump] has suggested it on several occasions, saying, ‘We offer you a U.S. military intervention in Mexico, whatever you need to combat the criminal groups.’ But I have told him every time that we can collaborate, that they can help us with any information they have, but that we operate in our own territory,” is the gist of the Mexican president’s response to Trump’s insinuations, which began last February when he declared the cartels terrorist organizations. “We will never be subordinate. Mexico is a free, sovereign, and independent country, and we do not accept interference,” she said at the time.
However, Trump has not wavered in his offer, which has become a challenge to Sheinbaum’s composure in the face of the domestic opposition’s pressure to allow the United States to address Mexico’s security crisis and the growing frustration of a society plagued by violence. At the beginning of the year, Mexico’s concessions — sending 10,000 troops to the border to reinforce immigration enforcement and extraditing cartel leader Rafael Caro Quintero — not only quelled the trade war but also temporarily quieted calls for military intervention.
