Trump calls Mexico president afraid of the cartels after she turned down troops offer

President Trump confirmed over the weekend that he volunteered to dispatch US troops to Mexico to combat brutal drug cartels, only to be rebuffed by his counterpart, Claudia Sheinbaum.Sheinbaum, 62, had publicly claimed Saturday that she turned down an offer from Trump to send American soldiers into her country to assist in efforts to crack down on the deadly drug gangs.The US president’s offer was first reported Friday by the Wall Street Journal.“It’s true,” Trump, 78, told reporters aboard Air Force One Sunday night while en route to Washington from Florida.

“They [the cartels] are horrible people that have been killing people left and right and have been — they’ve made a fortune on selling drugs and destroying our people.”“They are bad news,” he added.“If Mexico wanted help with the cartels, we would be honored to go in and do it.

I told her that.I would be honored to go in and do it.

The cartels are trying to destroy our country.They’re evil.”The US saw at least 87,000 drug overdose deaths between October 2023 and September 2024, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

There were about 57,997 fentanyl-related deaths between September 2023 to August 2024, per the CDC.Sheinbaum had crowed about how she turned down Trump’s offer to assist with the cartel crisis while speaking at a university in Mexico Saturday.“And do you know what I told him? No, President Trump,” Sheinbaum recounted.

“The territory cannot be violated.Sovereignty cannot be sold.

Sovereignty is cherished and defended.”“It’s not necessary.We can collaborate.

We can work together,” Sheinbaum went on.“We can share information, but we will never accept the presence of the United States’ army in our territory.”Earlier this year, Trump slapped a 25% tariff on imports from Mexico, which now exempts goods subject to the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).The tariffs were intended to leverage concessions from the southern...