Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum boasted last Saturday that her US counterpart, Donald Trump, acknowledged that he would "copy" Mexico's drug campaign after one of their calls. "I told him: 'Moreover, we have launched a campaign against drugs, so that young people never resort to violence or drugs.' And that’s when he said to me: 'We are going to copy the Mexicans, we are going to do a campaign in the US against drugs,'" Sheinbaum recounted at an event in Durango.
The Mexican leader made these statements after Trump announced last Friday a $100 million to $200 million investment to launch a drug campaign in the United States, giving credit to Sheinbaum after their conversation on February 3 to pause tariffs on Mexico. "I give her credit; she was the one who talked to me about this, but immediately when she said it, I knew I didn’t have to say anything more. And I told her: 'Oh, it’s very simple, Mexican families have values, we take care of each other,'" she added.
These remarks come as Trump increases pressure to combat drug trafficking, as this week he declared six Mexican cartels as terrorists and US drones have been spying on organized crime in Mexico.
Sheinbaum asserted that Trump’s recognition of the drug campaign shows that "Mexico is a great country." "We should never think that we are not the greatest country on earth; on the contrary, our country has a wonderful history, we have indigenous peoples who gave us that solidarity, that love," she concluded.
The US president commented to the media following a meeting with governors that "it was just the concept of it" and added: "I never learn anything from calls, and this time I learned something." Additionally, Trump referred to Sheinbaum as "a wonderful woman" on another occasion.
The president recounted that in the three calls she has had with Trump, she has "always defended the sovereignty and independence of Mexico, always." "He recently acknowledged that he asked me if there was drug use in Mexico, and I told him: 'Yes, but not as much as in the United States.' And he asked me why."
