Understandable Disappointment with Mexican President Sheinbaum – Trump: “The Cartels are Running Mexico”

While the original focus was on questions about the Iran war, at the tail end of an impromptu presser yesterday, President Trump was asked about Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and the status of U.S. national security.

President Trump said he was very disappointed that President Sheinbaum refused his offer of assistance in eliminating the cartels in Mexico.  Ultimately culminating in the statement, “the cartels are running Mexico.”

Considering everything President Trump is doing to secure the Western Hemisphere objective, it must be very frustrating to eliminate various narcotraffickers, human smugglers and transnational agents of chaos, and yet still have one of the closest geographic nations unwilling to address the biggest criminal elements near our borders.

The bilateral USMCA discussions between the U.S. and Mexico are ongoing, I think we can expect this element of friction and ultimately leverage to be present in the overall outcome.

Personally, I think if the government of Cuba flips, there will be exceptional pressure on Mexico to finally address the issue.