ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (Reuters)

President Donald Trump on Sunday (May 4) confirmed he had offered to send US troops to Mexico to help Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum combat drug trafficking, an offer Sheinbaum disclosed a day before and said she had refused.

Trump, speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One as he returned to Washington from Florida, said he had made the offer because the drug cartels were “horrible people” who had caused thousands of deaths.

“If Mexico wanted help with the cartels, I would be honoured to go in and do it,” he said.

Asked if he was disappointed that Sheinbaum had turned down the offer, Trump said, “I think she’s a lovely woman. The president of Mexico is a lovely woman, but she is so afraid of the cartels that she can’t even think straight.”

Sheinbaum on Saturday she had rejected Trump’s offer because “sovereignty is not for sale.” Her comments came in response to questions about a Wall Street Journal report published on May 2 that said Trump was pressuring Mexico to allow deeper US military involvement against drug cartels to combat trafficking across the shared border.

Sheinbaum said the two countries could collaborate, but Mexico would “never accept the presence of the United States military in our territory.”

A spokesperson for the National Security Council (NSC) told Reuters on Saturday that Trump had been clear that Mexico needed to do more to combat gangs and cartels engaged in drug trafficking, and the US stood ready to assist.

Trump has said publicly the US would take unilateral military action if Mexico failed to dismantle drug cartels. The two leaders have had several calls in recent months to discuss security issues, trade and immigration.