e expressed frustration with Mexico and floated the idea of military intervention. “It’s not going to happen,” Sheinbaum said in Spanish, adding that she had already made her position clear in multiple phone conversations with Trump and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. According to Sheinbaum, Trump has repeatedly suggested offering “a United States military intervention in Mexico or whatever you need to combat criminal groups.” She reiterated that while Mexico welcomes cooperation and intelligence-sharing, it will not permit any foreign military presence on its territory. “We do not accept an intervention by any foreign government,” she said. “I’ve told him on the phone. I’ve said it with the State Department, with Marco Rubio.” Trump Signals Potential Expansion of His Bombing Campaign Her remarks followed Trump’s Oval Office meeting with FIFA President Gianni Infantino on Monday, during which the US president spoke publicly about his escalating military campaign against drug cartels in Latin America. When asked by a reporter whether he was considering “launching strikes in Mexico,” Trump replied, “To stop drugs? It’s OK with me. Whatever we have to do to stop drugs.” He referenced the US bombing campaign launched on September 2, which has involved at least 21 deadly missile strikes against alleged drug-smuggling vessels in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean, killing 83 people. United Nations officials and legal experts have condemned the strikes as illegal extrajudicial killings. Despite providing no evidence, Trump claimed the operations had drastically reduced drug flows and suggested that similar strikes could target land routes inside Mexico. “Would I do that on the land corridors? I would absolutely,” he said. Trump has frequently cited a figure — that each destroyed boat saves 25,000 American lives — but no factual basis for the number has been provided. The administration has also released no proof identifying the victims or confirming they were drug traffickers. Families in Venezuela, Colombia and Trinidad and Tobago have claimed that their missing relatives were fishermen caught in the attacks. Two survivors were repatriated in October. Pressed on whether he would seek Mexico’s permission before any potential strike, Trump refused to answer directly. “I’ve been speaking to Mexico. They know how I stand,” he said, adding, “I am not happy with Mexico.” Escalating Legal Claims and Fears of Intervention Since returning to office, Trump has invoked extraordinary wartime powers, claiming the US is in an armed conflict with drug cartels. Although only Congress can formally declare war, Trump reportedly signed a secret order in August authorising military action against cartels — alarming officials in Mexico. On October 2, he issued a memo to Congress labelling Latin American cartels as “enemy combatants” in a “non-international armed conflict,” laying the legal groundwork for US strikes abroad. He has also designated several cartels as “foreign terrorist organisations,” though the label does not legally justify military intervention on Mexican territory. “That's like a war,” Trump said on Monday, arguing that cartels are killing Americans and that the US knows “the addresses of every drug lord.” The US has a long and controversial history of interventions in Latin America, and US conservatives have increasingly embraced the idea of sending troops into Mexico. In 2023, then-candidate Ron DeSantis pledged to deploy US special forces across the border “on day one” if elected. Concerns over US intervention date back to Trump’s first term, when he considered using terrorism designations to justify action. At the time, former Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador denied that any such intervention would be allowed. On Tuesday, Sheinbaum echoed her predecessor. “There is collaboration, and there is coordination,” she said. “But there is no subordination, nor can we allow an intervention.”