Why isn’t Mexico part of Trump’s new ‘Shield of the Americas’?

The United States has established a caller “counter cartel coalition” made up of Western Hemisphere nations, but Mexico isn’t portion of the radical adjacent though U.S. President Donald Trump asserted connected Saturday that the state is the “epicenter of cartel violence.”

The Americas Counter Cartel Coalition (ACCC) — besides known arsenic the “Shield of the Americas” — was established past Thursday during the Americas Counter Cartel Conference successful Miami. Among the conjugation partners are the United States, Argentina, Ecuador, El Salvador, Panama, Paraguay and Peru. In summation to Mexico, countries including Colombia, Brazil, Canada and Cuba are not portion of the coalition.

At an lawsuit connected Saturday that the White House called the “Shield of the Americas” summit, Trump signed a proclamation that states that U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth “established the Americas Counter Cartel Coalition, a pledge from subject leaders and representatives from 17 countries demonstrating that the portion is acceptable to operationalize hard powerfulness to decision these threats to our information and civilization.”

At the summit, held successful Doral, Florida, the U.S. president said that the purpose of the conjugation is to “eradicate the transgression cartels plaguing our region.”

“And you person a batch of it,” Trump told determination leaders, including President Javier Milei of Argentina, President Daniel Noboa of Ecuador and President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador.

He said that the United States is presently “knocking the hellhole retired of [cartels] wherever we can, and we’re going to spell heavier.”

Introducing the Americas Counter Cartel Coalition, designed to crush unsafe transgression cartels successful the Western Hemisphere.

“The bosom of our statement is simply a committedness to utilizing lethal subject unit to destruct the sinister cartels and violent networks.” – President Donald J.… pic.twitter.com/zPr8ghkoBk

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) March 7, 2026

Trump said that the “heart” of the statement betwixt the ACCC partners is “a committedness to utilizing lethal subject unit to destruct the sinister cartels and violent networks.”

During his address, helium besides said that “as portion of our committedness to countering the cartel beingness successful our region, we indispensable admit the epicenter of cartel unit is Mexico.”

“The Mexican cartels are fueling and orchestrating overmuch of the bloodshed and chaos successful this hemisphere and the United States authorities volition bash immoderate is indispensable to support our nationalist information and to support the information of the American people,” said Trump, who successful January asserted that the U.S. was going to commencement “hitting” Mexican cartels connected land.

“… It’s coming done Mexico,” helium said, referring to narcotics smuggled into the United States.

“And I similar the president precise much,” Trump said, referring to Claudia Sheinbaum, who connected Jan. 12 appeared to defuse the U.S. president’s menace to motorboat strikes connected Mexican cartels, astatine slightest temporarily.

“She’s a precise bully person. She’s got a beauteous voice, a beauteous woman, but beauteous voice,” helium said earlier attempting to imitate it.

“… I said, ‘Let maine eradicate the cartels.’ [She said:] “No, no, no, please, president.’ We person to eradicate them. We person to sound the hellhole retired of them due to the fact that they’re getting worse. They’re taking implicit their country. The cartels are moving Mexico. We can’t person that. Too adjacent to us. Too adjacent to you,” Trump said, alluding to his stated willingness to usage the U.S. subject to onslaught Mexican cartels.

The U.S. president announced past Thursday that Kristi Noem, the erstwhile caput of homeland security, would beryllium “Special Envoy for The Shield of the Americas, our caller Security Initiative successful the Western Hemisphere,” a portion that the U.S. authorities has declared a strategical precedence arsenic portion of the alleged “Trump Corollary” to the Monroe Doctrine.

Why isn’t Mexico portion of the ACCC?

There appears to beryllium a scope of reasons wherefore Mexico is not portion of the ACCC, including that it has a abstracted bilateral information statement oregon “understanding” with the U.S., the Mexican authorities is not ideologically aligned with the Trump medication and Sheinbaum is vehemently opposed to immoderate benignant of U.S. subject enactment successful Mexican territory.

Mexico was reportedly not invited to either the “Shield of the Americas” acme oregon the Americas Counter Cartel Conference. However, a U.S. Department of State spokesperson told the EFE quality bureau that the doorway is not closed to Mexico joining the ACCC astatine immoderate constituent successful the future.

Raquel Saed, an world successful the International Studies section of the Ibero-American University successful Mexico City, told the paper Milenio that Mexico volition person “different treatment” successful its information narration with the United States successful examination with the ACCC countries.

She noted that Mexico and the United States person their ain aggravated bilateral agenda.

“We person to stock a batch of things [including] a border,” Saed said, noting besides that Mexico and the U.S. person their ain bilateral social, governmental and economical relationship.

Eunice Rendón, a information and migration expert, asserted that countries specified arsenic Mexico and Brazil were excluded from the “Shield of the Americas” acme due to the fact that their governments don’t align ideologically with the Trump administration.

The leaders who were invited are much aligned with “the reasoning and vision” of Trump, Rendón told Milenio. Some of those leaders “are besides portion of that fascist, xenophobic, right-wing movement,” she said.

Reuters reported that “many of the leaders” who attended the acme successful Florida connected Saturday “share Trump’s hardline presumption of transgression and migration, favoring crackdowns implicit deeper societal fixes and backstage concern implicit the state.”

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Christopher Sabtani, elder probe chap for Latin America astatine the British deliberation vessel Chatham House, wrote that the attendees astatine the “Shield of the Americas” acme were each “centre- to hard-right leaders,” while the presidents of Brazil, Mexico and Colombia — “all of them of the left” — were “pointedly absent.”

“This is significant: those 3 countries correspond much than fractional of the region’s GDP. And they big a ample portion of the region’s illicit markets including narcotics accumulation and commercialized – the expected targets of the summit,” Sabatini wrote.

A conjugation whose cardinal stated committedness is to usage “lethal subject force” against cartels is not congruent with Sheinbaum’s condemnation of U.S. attacks targeting alleged cause boats. She has advocated arresting suspected cause traffickers astatine sea, alternatively than sidesplitting them, and astatine her Monday greeting property conference, said it was “good” that Trump connected Saturday had publically acknowledged her rejection of his connection to nonstop the U.S. service into Mexico to combat Mexican cartels, six of which person been designated arsenic overseas violent organizations by the U.S. government.

Sheinbaum is adamant that Mexico tin — and indispensable — enactment connected its ain against cartels successful its ain territory, portion limiting information collaboration with the United States to things specified arsenic quality sharing. In contrast, Ecuador — present a ACCC spouse — collaborated with the United States connected “lethal kinetic operations against Designated Terrorist Organizations wrong Ecuador” past Friday, according to the U.S. Southern Command. The U.S. could conceivably question to transportation retired akin operations with different ACCC partners.

Indeed, during his code connected Saturday, Trump told leaders of the ACCC countries that “we’re moving with you to bash immoderate we person to do.”

“We’ll usage missiles, [if] you privation america to usage a missile, they’re highly accurate. Pew! Right into the surviving room,” helium said, mimicking the dependable of a missile.

“That’s the extremity of that cartel person. But we’ll bash immoderate you request if you want. A batch of countries don’t privation to bash that,” Trump said.

Hegseth said astatine past week’s Counter Cartel Conference that the U.S. “is prepared to instrumentality connected these threats and spell connected the discourtesy unsocial if necessary.”

“However, it is our penchant … [that] we each bash it unneurotic with you,” helium said.

While Sheinbaum is steadfastly opposed to a U.S. subject onslaught against cartels successful Mexico, and to associated operations with the U.S. connected Mexican soil, her authorities — nether unit from Trump — has taken a much proactive and assertive attack to combating transgression organizations, arsenic demonstrated by the caller subject cognition targeting Nemesio Rubén “El Mencho” Oseguera, the present deceased person of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.

With reports from Reuters, DW and Milenio