While President Donald Trump has largely had a good relationship with Mexico’s president so far, experts say Trump’s recent dust-up with his counterpart in Mexico could signify the start of a breakdown.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum insists that her relationship with Trump remains unfractured, even after she refused to let him send U.S. troops across the border.
But Sheinbaum seems to be drawing a line in the sand, Stephanie Brewer, director for Mexico at the Washington Office on Latin America said.
“The one clear red line that she has drawn … is opposing U.S. military action in Mexico without the consent of the Mexican government,” Brewer said.
Trump told reporters over the weekend that Sheinbaum is so afraid of her country’s drug cartels she “can’t walk.”
Sheinbaum said on Saturday that Trump asked her in a phone call if she would be willing to let U.S. troops into Mexico to fight the cartels, a request she refused. Trump’s administration has designated the drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.
“What we’ve seen in the past few days … is Sheinbaum seeming to now more clearly indicate that when the offer is on the table from the U.S., or the proposal is on the table of military action, she has said no,” Brewer said.
