President Claudia Sheinbaum on Friday rebuffed a declaration from the United States’ ambassador designate to Mexico, Ronald Johnson, that the U.S. military could unilaterally take action against drug cartels on Mexican soil if the lives of U.S. citizens were at risk.
“We don’t agree. He said everything’s on the table, well no,” Sheinbaum said at her morning press conference.
“Not everything is on the table, nor on the chair, nor on the floor, nor anywhere. Not that,” she said.
Her remarks came after a day after Johnson was questioned by United States Senator Chris Coons about his views on unilateral U.S. military action against Mexican cartels.
“Sovereignty is a core principle. I understand that the designation of the drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations reflects widespread concern and anger in the United States about the cartels and the impact of fentanyl,” Coons said at a Senate hearing for three of President Donald Trump’s ambassador nominees.
“Would you agree that we should not take any military action against cartels in Mexican territory without the knowledge and consent of the Mexican government?”
Johnson — an army veteran and former CIA official who served as ambassador to El Salvador during Trump’s first term as president — said he believed that on “any decision to take action against a cartel inside Mexico, our first desire would be that it be done in partnership with our Mexican partners.”
“That said I know that President Trump takes very seriously his responsibility to safeguard the lives of U.S. citizens and should there be a case where the lives of U.S. citizens are at risk I think all cards are on the table,” he said.
“I cannot respond to what the commander-in-chief might decide based on the information he has. I’ve been a private citizen for the last four years, but I think we would prefer to work with our partners in Mexico,” Johnson said.
On the first day of his second term, Trump signed an executive order directing the U.S. secretary of state to look at the designation of drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. He was subsequently asked whether he would consider “ordering U.S. special forces into Mexico” to “take out” cartels.
“Could happen,” Trump responded. “Stranger things have happened.”
In July last year, Trump said “absolutely” when he was asked in an interview with Fox News whether “strikes” against Mexican cartels were “still on the table.”
The Wall Street Journal reported on Feb. 28 that in his first call with top Mexican military officials, United States Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said “that if Mexico didn’t deal with the collusion between the country’s government and drug cartels, the U.S. military was prepared to take unilateral action.”
“Mexico’s top brass who were on that call were shocked and angered, feeling he was suggesting U.S. military action inside Mexico,” the WSJ said, citing “people briefed on the Jan. 31 call.”
For his part, Trump’s “government efficiency” czar Elon Musk wrote on X on Feb. 19 that six Mexican cartels and two other criminal organizations were “eligible for drone strikes” as a result of the State Department’s designation of the groups as foreign terrorist organizations.
The CIA has recently been flying unarmed drones over Mexico to spy on drug cartels and hunt for fentanyl labs — with the permission of the Mexican government, according to Sheinbaum.
The president has previously rejected repeated assertions from the U.S. government that the Mexican government colludes with drug cartels and provides “safe havens” for them.
Despite “the libel the White House makes against the government of Mexico” — as Sheinbaum described the assertions — the president has maintained what she calls a “relationship of respect” with Trump in the almost eight weeks since he commenced his second term. Last week, she reached a deal with him that resulted in the suspension of most U.S. tariffs on Mexican goods just two days after they were imposed.
Trump said on social media that he decided to suspend tariffs on Mexican goods covered by the USMCA free trade pact “as an accommodation, and out of respect for,” Sheinbaum, with whom he said he is “working hard … on the border, both in terms of stopping illegal Aliens from entering the United States and, likewise, stopping Fentanyl.”
Sheinbaum has said on numerous occasions that Mexico is willing to collaborate with the United States on security issues, but will not accept any violation of its sovereignty.
She repeated that message on Friday.
“We collaborate within a framework of respect, we coordinate with each other, there is in fact very good coordination. There is very good coordination because there is respect between both countries, and [there is] collaboration within the framework of our sovereignty,” Sheinbaum said.
“… We’re going to continue collaborating, coordinating together. If he’s ratified by the Senate, there will be a good relationship with the ambassador, but, as we’ve said, Mexico is respected,” she said.
By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies ([email protected])
