Mexico City, Mexico, June 18, 2026 – President Claudia Sheinbaum rejected Donald Trump’s claim that Mexico has lost control to cartels, saying the U.S. president is “not well informed” and defending Mexico’s security institutions.
Trump made the remarks during the G7 summit in France, where he said Mexico had “lost control” and that cartels were running the country. He also described Sheinbaum as a good person but “very scared,” a comment that quickly moved the dispute beyond security and into sovereignty.
Sheinbaum answered from her morning press conference, saying Trump already knows Mexico’s position. She said there is a Mexican state, a president, and security officials working daily against organized crime, including Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch and the heads of the Army and Navy.
The fight is about control, not only cartels
Trump’s words were not a routine criticism of Mexico’s violence. They suggested the Mexican government no longer controls its own territory.
That is why Sheinbaum’s response focused less on Trump’s tone and more on the authority of the Mexican state. Her message was clear: Mexico will cooperate with the United States, but it will not accept being treated as a country without functioning institutions.
This has become one of the central lines in U.S.-Mexico security relations. Sheinbaum made the same point when she shut down talk of U.S. military action in Mexico earlier this year. Her government has also rejected suggestions of joint operations on Mexican soil, including in the dispute over U.S. agents and anti-cartel missions.
The relationship is not broken. It is tense, transactional, and increasingly public.
Mexico’s reply puts guns back in the debate
Sheinbaum also used Trump’s comments to turn the question back toward the United States.
If Washington wants to intensify pressure on cartels, she said, it should also do more to stop weapons moving south. Drugs move north, but guns and money move south.
The U.S. Justice Department said in February that ATF had seized 4,359 illegal firearms bound for Mexico since January 2025, along with 648,975 rounds of ammunition. Those numbers support Mexico’s long-running claim that U.S. firearms help feed cartel violence.
Mexico has pressed this point for years, arguing that cartel power cannot be explained only by corruption or impunity inside Mexico. It is also tied to cross-border markets, weapons sales, money laundering, and drug demand.
That does not erase Mexico’s responsibility for security. It does challenge the idea that the crisis belongs to Mexico alone.
Security cooperation is still happening
The public argument comes as both governments continue to cooperate on cases involving organized crime.
PVDN has reported on growing U.S. pressure against Mexican officials accused of protecting cartels, including a recent warning that Washington could pursue Mexican officials tied to cartel networks. Mexico has pushed back when it sees those accusations as political, but it has not walked away from security cooperation.
That balance has become Sheinbaum’s preferred lane. Mexico will share intelligence. It will carry out operations. It will work on fentanyl, weapons, and border security. But it will keep insisting that operations inside Mexico must be led by Mexican authorities.
The same line appeared in Sheinbaum’s earlier message that Mexico will cooperate with the United States but not be subordinate.
Danger for both countries
The danger for both countries is that public language can outrun private cooperation.
Trump’s claim that cartels run Mexico plays well in U.S. politics, especially with voters focused on fentanyl and border security. But in Mexico, that language lands as an accusation against the state itself.
Sheinbaum’s answer was measured, but firm. She did not match Trump’s personal tone. Instead, she tried to shift the argument back to institutions, sovereignty, and shared responsibility.
