The President of Mexico has warned the United States on Thursday that her country would never tolerate an “invasion” of its national sovereignty and vowed fresh legal action against US gunmakers after Washington designated cartels as terrorist organisations.
The remarks were the latest in a series hitting back at the administration of President Donald Trump, which has ramped up pressure on its southern neighbor to curb illegal flows of drugs and migrants.
Mexico is trying to avoid the sweeping 25-percent tariffs threatened by Trump by increasing cooperation in the fight against narcotics trafficked by the cartels in his sights.
The eight Latin American drug trafficking groups designated as terrorist organizations include Mexican gangs such as the Jalisco New Generation and Sinaloa cartels — two of the country’s most powerful and violent criminal organizations.
But the designation “cannot be an opportunity for the US to invade our sovereignty,” President Claudia Sheinbaum told a news conference.
“They can call them (the cartels) whatever they want, but with Mexico, it is collaboration and coordination, never subordination or interventionism, and even less invasion.”
In an interview broadcast late Thursday on the social media platform X, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio attempted to allay those concerns.
“In the case of Mexico, the preference always is to work in conjunction with our partners in Mexico, and we can provide them a lot of information about who they are and where they’re located,” he said, referring to the newly designated criminal gangs.
Sheinbaum said Mexico would expand its legal action against US gun manufacturers, which her government accuses of negligence in the sale of weapons that end up in the hands of drug traffickers.
The lawsuit could lead to a new charge of alleged “complicity” with terrorist groups, she said.
