In late January, the US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth threatened Mexico with "unilateral action" if Mexico City did not address the "collusion" between its own government and drug cartels.
This is reported by The Wall Street Journal, citing sources.
The Mexican high command present at the meeting was outraged. Officials decided that Hegset meant military action directed against Mexico.
“There is a sense that Trump wants specific things — like troop deployments,” a WSJ source familiar with the talks told the paper.
Hegsethʼs statement about possible US military action angered Mexican generals. Their country had lost more than 40% of its territory in the Mexican-American War of 1846.
"We are not taking anything off the agenda. Nothing," Hegset said at public events when asked if he would rule out the possibility of military strikes on Mexico.
Now Mexico fears that Trumpʼs demands to stop the smuggling of the drug fentanyl and the flows of migrants will be tacitly backed by potential US military action, not just 25% tariffs that could undermine the countryʼs economy.
In early February, Trump postponed the imposition of tariffs for 30 days after negotiations. At that time, the Mexican government announced that it would send 10,000 troops to the border with the United States, primarily to stop the flow of fentanyl and illegal immigrants into the United States.
However, this week Trump said that “drugs continue to come into our country from Mexico and Canada at a very high and unacceptable level”. He said the tariffs would take effect in March and remain in place “until it stops or is severely curtailed”.
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