President Claudia Sheinbaum announced on Saturday that she had rejected US President Donald Trump’s invitation to send troops to Mexico to battle drug trafficking. “I told him, ‘No, President Trump, our territory is inviolable, our sovereignty is inviolable, and our sovereignty is not for sale,'” she stated at a public event, referring to a recent report in The Wall Street Journal about the leaders’ tense exchange.

Sheinbaum stated that she volunteered to participate, including more information sharing. Trump himself stated in an interview with conservative publication The Blaze last week that he had volunteered to assist Mexico in combating drug cartels but had been rejected down. Without going into detail, Trump told his interviewer, “You could argue that at some time, something will have to happen. It cannot continue the way it is.

Sheinbaum said in her presentation Saturday that she had encouraged Trump to put an end to cross-border gun trafficking, which has contributed to a wave of violence that has killed over 450,000 people in Mexico over the last two decades. Trump, for his part, has regularly criticized cross-border drug smuggling and urged Mexico to crack down on criminal organizations.

Sheinbaum said in her presentation Saturday that she had encouraged Trump to put an end to cross-border gun trafficking, which has contributed to a wave of violence that has killed over 450,000 people in Mexico over the last two decades. Trump, for his part, has regularly complained about cross-border drug smuggling and pressed Mexico to crack down on criminal organizations.

In early March, Trump upset Mexicans by claiming that America’s southern neighbor was “dominated entirely by criminal cartels that murder, rape, torture and exercise total control… posing a grave threat to (US) national security.” Trump has long complained — and used as a rationale for putting tariffs on Mexico — that the country has not done enough to combat the trafficking of migrants and drugs, notably fentanyl, into the United States.

In early March, Trump upset Mexicans by claiming that America’s southern neighbor was “dominated entirely by criminal cartels that murder, rape, torture and exercise total control… posing a grave threat to (US) national security.” Trump has long complained — and uses as a rationale for putting tariffs on the country—that Mexico has not done enough to curb the trafficking of migrants and drugs, notably fentanyl, into the United States.

These issues have been part of the continuing diplomatic dance between the countries over trade tariffs. Mexico, the United States’ largest trade partner and Latin America’s second-largest economy, is regarded as one of the most vulnerable to the president’s broad import tariffs.