Mexico City: Hours after US President Donald Trump announced tariffs on imports from China, Canada, and Mexico, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum slapped retaliatory tariffs on US goods. Issuing a statement she said that Mexico would reject ‘White House slander’ against her government of having .ties with criminal groups.
She alleged that it’s the US that sells weapons to these criminal groups, as was demonstrated by the United States Department of Justice in January. Ge further added that her government seized 40 tons of drugs, including 20 million doses of fentanyl, and also arrested several people linked to these groups.
Mexico rejects White House’s ‘slander’: President Claudia Sheinbaum
“We categorically reject the White House’s slander against the Mexican government of having alliances with criminal organizations, as well as any intention of intervention in our territory,” the Mexican President wrote on X.
She added, “ If such an alliance exists anywhere, it is in the United States armories that sell high-powered weapons to these criminal groups, as demonstrated by the United States Department of Justice itself in January of this year.”
Rechazamos categóricamente la calumnia que hace la Casa Blanca al Gobierno de México de tener alianzas con organizaciones criminales, así como cualquier intención injerencista en nuestro territorio.
Si en algún lugar existe tal alianza es en las armerías de los Estados Unidos…
— Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo (@Claudiashein) February 2, 2025
Hitting out further, President Sheinbaum observed that if the US was serious about addressing the consumption of fentanyl in its country, then the administration could have combat the sale of narcotics in its main cities.’
‘Mexico does not want confrontation’
“Mexico does not want confrontation. We start with a collaboration between neighboring countries. Mexico not only does not want fentanyl to reach the United States but anywhere. Therefore, if the United States wants to combat criminal groups that traffic drugs and generate violence, we must work together in an integrated manner, but always under the principles of shared responsibility, mutual trust, collaboration, and, above all, respect for sovereignty, which is not negotiable. Coordination, yes; subordination, no,” she wrote further.
