After U.S. President-elect Donald Trump declared he would designate Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist organizations on his first day in office, Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum told reporters Mexico would never accept any interventionist actions.
“We will collaborate with and coordinate with the United States,” Sheinbaum said in response, “but we will never subordinate ourselves.”
During a Sunday speech to conservative supporters, Trump — who takes office on Jan. 20, 2025 — said he would address illegal drugs on his first day in office, according to the newspaper El País.
“All foreign gang members will be expelled and I will immediately designate the [drug] cartels as foreign terrorist organizations,” Trump said, adding that every cartel “operating on American soil will be dismantled, deported and destroyed.”
Trump also mentioned his November phone call with Sheinbaum, after he had threatened to levy 25% tariffs on Mexico unless more is done to solve the problems of immigration and drug trafficking.
Calling Sheinbaum “a lovely woman,” Trump told the AmericaFest crowd that he was very tough on Mexico, saying he insisted the Mexican president must do more to address the drug trade.
Trump floated the idea of a terrorist designation during his first term in office back in 2019, but set plans aside at the request of Sheinbaum’s predecessor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who sought to cooperate in the fight against drug gangs, instead of considering intervention.
For several years, hard-liners in the United States have demanded that organizations such as the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco Nueva Generación Cartel be labeled as terrorist groups. These supporters would also back targeted attacks on cartel operations in Mexico in violation of international law, El País reported.
Officially designating cartels as terrorist organizations would legally permit the United States to send its military into Mexico to fight the crime gangs, the newspaper El Universal reported. Some U.S. officials believe such a measure would damage relations with Mexico and hinder the Mexican government’s fight against drug trafficking.
After saying she would defend Mexico’s sovereignty against any interventionist actions, Sheinbaum restated her government’s position on the drug war.
“The drugs are consumed [in the United States], the guns [the cartels use] come from there, and lives are lost down here,” she said. “But … we don’t accept interference in our country.”
Sheinbaum added that her administration is working to re-establish peace in Mexico by addressing the root causes of violence so that the country’s youth do not become involved in crime.
With reports from Por Esto, Reuters, El Universal, El País and Reforma
