Mexico's President Sheinbaum dismisses Trump’s threat of sending troops to Mexico

Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, has again dismissed Donald Trump’s threat of military action against drug cartels inside her country, telling reporters: “It’s not going to happen.”

Sheinbaum made the comments on Tuesday morning in response to the US president’s latest warning that he could authorise strikes in Mexico.

“Would I want strikes in Mexico to stop drugs? OK with me, whatever we have to do to stop drugs,” Trump said on Monday, adding that he’s “not happy with Mexico” and that the US government has drug corridors from Mexico “under major surveillance”.

Sheinbaum said that the Trump administration later clarified it would only intervene with Mexico’s permission.

“We are not going to ask for it because we do not want intervention from any foreign government,” she said.

Sheinbaum pointed to the 19th-century Mexican-American war as a warning of what could happen if US troops were allowed into Mexico: “The last time the United States came to intervene in Mexico, they took half of the territory.”

Sheinbaum, who took power a few months before Trump returned to the White House, has received plaudits for her calm but firm handling of bilateral relations under intense pressure.

Earlier this month, she denied reports that Washington planned to send troops into Mexico, noting that she had repeatedly rejected such offers from Trump. “We do not agree with any process of interference or interventionism,” she said.