Trump Praises Sheinbaum After Border Call: ‘Mexico Has a Wonderful and Highly Intelligent Leader’
President Donald Trump praised Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Thursday after a phone call addressing border security, drug trafficking, and trade. Trump said the conversation “went extremely well for both countries” and suggested he hopes to hold a formal meeting with Sheinbaum soon. He called her “a wonderful and highly intelligent leader” and said Mexico should be proud.
The unexpected praise comes after months of public friction between the two. Trump had previously accused Sheinbaum of being “afraid” after she refused to allow U.S. troops into Mexico to fight drug cartels. In May of last year, Trump reportedly pressured her to greenlight cross-border military operations, but Sheinbaum flatly rejected the proposal, declaring that “there is not going to be an invasion.”
Sheinbaum doubled down on that position again in August, after reports surfaced that Trump had quietly signed an order to authorize U.S. military force against drug cartels in foreign countries. “We cooperate, we collaborate, but there is not going to be an invasion,” she said at the time. “That is ruled out, absolutely ruled out.”
Still, both leaders acknowledged progress during Thursday’s call. Sheinbaum described the discussion as “productive and cordial,” and noted progress on trade and bilateral relations. Meanwhile, Trump said the call focused on the border, drugs, and trade, and cast it as a win for both sides.
Trump has recently intensified his rhetoric about the cartels, warning that the United States will begin striking drug runners wherever they operate. “We know their routes. We know everything about them. We’re going to hit the cartels,” he said last week.
The leaders have also sparred over tariffs. After Trump slapped Mexico, Canada, and China with tariffs over fentanyl trafficking, Sheinbaum initially threatened retaliation. But her government later paused that threat while attempting to negotiate a revised trade agreement under the USMCA framework.
On Wednesday, Mexico’s Economy Secretary Marcelo Ebrard met with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer in Washington, D.C., to discuss potential changes to the deal. The USMCA is scheduled for review this July, and all three countries must agree on an extension or risk seeing key provisions expire.