May 8, 2026

Donald Trump insists cartels rule Mexico: "It's the cartels, simply, who rule"

US President Donald Trump reiterated on Friday that drug cartels "rule Mexico," just two days after stating that if the neighboring country does not do "its job" to combat them, Washington will. At a Mother's Day event at the White House, the Republican highlighted that his administration has reduced maritime drug trafficking by 97%, but insisted that narcotics continue to arrive by land through Mexico. "You will see how it continues to decrease (cross-border trafficking), although (the drugs) are mainly arriving through Mexico. We have a problem because the cartels rule Mexico, and no one else. It's the cartels, simply, who rule," Trump said. Trump has previously stated that Mexico is completely in the hands of major drug trafficking clans, and his words today come after he threatened, again this week, to militarily intervene in Mexican territory against the cartels. Trump's message on Wednesday already prompted a reaction from his Mexican counterpart, Claudia Sheinbaum, who replied that her country is "acting" against drug trafficking and remains open to cooperating with the US in this task, while reiterating the need to respect the sovereignty of the Mexican state. Since his return to the White House in 2025, combating drug trafficking, especially fentanyl trafficking, has become one of Trump's main priorities, who has declared the main Mexican cartels as terrorist organizations. The exchange of statements comes at a particularly delicate moment for bilateral relations following a state anti-drug operation carried out in April in Chihuahua in which CIA agents participated without prior knowledge of the Mexican federal government. It also comes after the governor of Sinaloa, Rubén Rocha Moya, was accused of drug trafficking by a US federal court. Rocha Moya, a member of Morena, Sheinbaum's party, is accused along with nine other officials of crimes related to drug and arms trafficking. EFE