Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum says she rejected an offer from her United States counterpart, Donald Trump, to send US troops to Mexico to help combat drug trafficking.
Speaking at a public event on Saturday, Sheinbaum said Trump had asked her during a call how he could help fight organised crime and suggested sending US troops.
The Mexican leader said she declined, telling Trump, “We will never accept the presence of the United States army in our territory.”
“I told him, ‘No, President Trump, our territory is inviolable, our sovereignty is inviolable, our sovereignty is not for sale,’” Sheinbaum said.
Her comments come a day after the Wall Street Journal reported that Trump was pressuring Mexico to allow “deeper US military involvement” in the fight against drug cartels.
Citing unnamed people familiar with the matter, the news outlet said “tension rose” during an April 16 call between the two leaders as Trump “pushed to have US armed forces take a leading role in battling Mexican drug gangs that produce and smuggle fentanyl to the US”.
Since taking office in January, Trump has repeatedly hit out at Mexico and the US’s other neighbour, Canada, over drug trafficking.
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