US President Donald Trump confirmed on Sunday that he had offered to send US troops to Mexico to help President Claudia Sheinbaum fight drug trafficking. The Washington administration chief spoke to the press on board his plane, which took off from Florida to Washington.
Trump said he made the offer because drug cartels are made up of “terrible people” who are killing thousands. “If Mexico needed help fighting the cartels, I would be honored to go there and do it [send US troops to help],” he said.
Asked if he was disappointed that Sheinbaum had turned down the offer, Trump said: “I think she’s a wonderful woman. The president of Mexico is a wonderful woman, but she’s so afraid of the cartels that she can’t even think straight.”
On Saturday, Sheinbaum said she rejected the U.S. proposal because “sovereignty is not for sale.” She was responding to a Wall Street Journal report that Trump was pressuring Mexico to allow more U.S. military involvement in the fight against drug cartels. Sheinbaum said the two countries could cooperate, but Mexico “would never accept the presence of U.S. troops on its soil.”