At her Tuesday morning press conference, President Claudia Sheinbaum spoke about a range of issues, including the reduction in overdose deaths in the United States last year, upcoming visits to Mexico by U.S. officials, her possible attendance at the G7 Summit in Canada this month and the sharp decline in remittances to Mexico in April.
Here is a recap of the president’s June 3 mañanera.
Sheinbaum: Decline in overdose deaths in US related to reduction in fentanyl trafficking from Mexico
A reporter noted that the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported a decline of almost 27% in drug overdose deaths in the U.S. last year.
“Provisional data from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics indicate there were an estimated 80,391 drug overdose deaths in the United States during 2024 — a decrease of 26.9% from the 110,037 deaths estimated in 2023. Annual drug overdose deaths are projected to reach their lowest level since 2019,” the CDC said in a statement on May 14.
The reporter suggested to Sheinbaum that the information would be of use to her in conversations with United States President Donald Trump, who has frequently railed against the harm caused by narcotics from Mexico and even imposed tariffs on Mexican goods to pressure the Mexican government to do more to stop the trafficking of fentanyl.
The reporter also said she had spoken to some CDC researchers and they told her that “many” of the anti-drug strategies used in the United States over the past year were “copied from the Mexico model.”
Sheinbaum acknowledged the reduction in overdose deaths and said it was “good news for the United States and the world in general.”
All deaths are painful and “a tragedy,” but fatalities due to the “abuse of drugs and in particular the abuse of fentanyl” are particularly sad, she said.
“In addition, there is a decay of the person little by little,” Sheinbaum said.
“So, that deaths by overdose have decreased 27% is very good news,” she said.
The CDC said that “since late 2023, overdose deaths have steadily declined each month,” providing “a strong sign that public health interventions are making a difference and having a meaningful impact.”
Sheinbaum said that a “significant” reason for the decrease in overdose deaths in the United States “has to do with the reduction of the [illegal] passing of fentanyl from Mexico to the United States” as well as seizures of the powerful synthetic opioid in the U.S.
In Mexico, a record amount of fentanyl was seized while the previous government led by Andrés Manuel López Obrador was in office, and large confiscations have continued since the current president was sworn in last October.
Sheinbaum said that the use of the anti-overdose medicine naloxone has also helped to reduce drug-related deaths in the United States.
“Analyses have to be carried out in the United States to see what this reduction corresponds to, but it’s very good that [overdose deaths] have declined,” she said.
In February, Trump thanked Sheinbaum for giving him the idea to launch an anti-drugs campaign, on which he pledged to spend “hundreds of millions of dollars.”
Sheinbaum to meet with Landau ahead of visit by Rubio
Sheinbaum said that United States Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau — who served as U.S. ambassador to Mexico between 2019 and 2021 — would visit Mexico next week ahead of a visit by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
“He’s coming, I understand, between June 9 and 10 to prepare for Rubio’s visit later,” she said.
“… We’re going to speak about a lot of issues,” Sheinbaum said.
Rubio said on May 21 that he “intended to travel potentially to Mexico” in “the next few weeks” to discuss security and other matters.
In an appearance before the United States House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Committee, he also said that the Mexican government has been “very responsive on our security concerns” and “increased their security cooperation with us.”
Sheinbaum still hasn’t decided whether she will attend G7 Summit in Canada
Six days after Sheinbaum confirmed that Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney had invited her to attend the Group of Seven (G7) Leaders’ Summit in Kananaskis, Alberta, from June 15 to 17, a reporter asked the president what was stopping her from confirming her attendance at the meeting.
“There are several issues we have to resolve,” Sheinbaum responded.
Asked whether the arrangement of a meeting with Trump at the summit was one of them, the president only said:
“Until now, what there is is an invitation from the prime minister of Canada to attend the summit, which I’m very grateful for. As I told you, Mexico is not part of the G7 so we would attend as a guest country. I think that in a week, more or less, we’ll assess the situation. You always have to assess the situation in the country in order to leave.”
Sheinbaum said that if she does decide to go to the summit, she would attend for just one day.
“We’re going to assess it and we’ll let you know,” she said.
Decline in remittances ‘probably’ related to Trump’s ‘new immigration policy,’ says Sheinbaum
Sheinbaum acknowledged that remittances to Mexico declined 12.1% annually in April, the largest year-over-year decrease for any month since 2012.
“We’re working to see what the reason is,” she said, adding that the government is collaborating with U.S.-based migrants’ associations to find out why remittances declined.
“Until we have more information, we can’t say what the reason is,” Sheinbaum said.
She said that the number of Mexicans who have recently returned to Mexico (including due to deportation) is not “so significant” that it can explain the decline in remittances in April.
“So we have to find out exactly what’s happening. It’s probably something that has to do with the new immigration policy that President Trump has implemented. But we’re not getting ahead of ourselves, we’re not speculating,” Sheinbaum said.
In a post to X on Monday, Gabriela Siller, director of economic analysis at Banco Base, said that the decline in remittances in April was due to the “deterioration of the labor market in the United States and migrants’ fear of being deported,” which leads to them “avoid going out to work and/or send remittances.”
By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies ([email protected])
