Mexico rejects unilateral US military action after report US is weighing strikes

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Tuesday that her nation would categorically reject any unilateral U.S. military in Mexico and that such military action "would not resolve anything."

Sheinbaum's comments during her regular morning press conference came in response to questions about an NBC News report that President Donald Trump's administration is considering drone strikes on drug cartels in Mexico to combat trafficking across the shared border.

"The people of Mexico will not, under any circumstances, accept intervention, interference, or any other act from abroad," Sheinbaum said.

Officials from the Trump administration have repeatedly refused in recent months to rule out strikes in Mexico. U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has previously said that all options will be on the table when asked about the potential use of strikes inside Mexico.

The NBC News report cited six current and former U.S. military, law enforcement and intelligence officials with knowledge of the matter. It said that no decision had been made.

The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Sheinbaum said the U.S. and Mexico have a good ongoing dialogue on security issues and that she did not think the U.S. would pursue such unilateral action.

Concern has mounted in recent months among some Mexican officials, however, that the Trump administration may be setting the stage to take unilateral military action inside Mexico, an idea floated repeatedly during Trump's presidential campaign.

In February, the U.S. designated the Sinaloa Cartel and other Mexican drug cartels as global terrorist organizations, which some analysts have said could be a stepping stone to such action.

Sheinbaum has since proposed a constitutional reform aimed at adding protections to Mexico's national sovereignty.

The U.S. military has also increased its airborne surveillance of Mexican drug cartels to collect intelligence to determine how to best counter their activities.

During a congressional hearing on Tuesday, a senior Pentagon official said the military did not currently have the authority to hit cartels in Mexico.

Trump considered military action in Mexico during his first term. His former defense secretary, Mark Esper, wrote in his memoir that Trump asked at least twice in 2020 if the military could "shoot missiles into Mexico to destroy drug labs." Esper wrote that he replied that it would be illegal and an act of war.

(Reporting by Raul Cortes, Ana Isabel Martinez and Laura Gottesdiener in Mexico City and Idrees Ali in Washington; Editing by Kylie Madry and Rosalba O'Brien)