“I’d Like a Report on What the U.S. Does Against Drugs,” Sheinbaum Says

ByRomina Gándara

This article by Romina Gándara originally appeared in the September 17, 2026 edition of SinEmbargo, one of Mexico’s leading independent digital news outlets.

Mexico City, September 17 (SinEmbargo).— President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo (CSP) questioned on Thursday that the United States (U.S.) government is evaluating Mexico’s efforts against drug trafficking, and proposed that the neighboring country also present a report on the actions it takes to combat the consumption and distribution of substances.

Asked about the U.S. anti-drug report, the Mexican president warned that the fight against drug trafficking does not fall only on producing or transit countries, but also on curbing consumption, distribution, and money laundering within U.S. territory.

“I would like to hear or see a report on what the United States government does inside the United States. We’ve said here many times… President [Donald] Trump acknowledged it at some point and it is acknowledged in a document from the so-called ‘anti-drug strategy,’ that letter: What is being done about consumption?” she said at her morning press conference.

President Sheinbaum Pardo noted that Mexico has insisted that drug consumption must also be addressed as a public health problem, particularly among young people.

At the same time, she affirmed that the Mexican government maintains its fight against those who produce and traffic substances into the U.S.: “No one agrees that drugs should be produced here to take them to the United States, and we have to work so that this does not happen.”

However, she called for reviewing what measures President Donald Trump’s administration applies against consumption and distribution networks. She even questioned the lack of information about actions against money laundering related to drug trafficking.

The firepower that organized crime has in our country could not be explained without the passage of weapons from the United States into Mexico illegally.

Claudia Sheinbaum

The Mexican president cited as an example the opioid crisis the U.S. faces and recalled that part of the problem began with prescription painkillers authorized despite prior warnings about their high addictive potential.

“The firepower that organized crime has in our country could not be explained without the passage of weapons from the United States into Mexico illegally,” she maintained.

On the country’s results, she stressed that Mexico acts at home: there are arrests, drug seizures, and investigations against complicit officials, regardless of the party they belong to.

She also mentioned a case involving DEA agents who were accused of allowing the trafficking and sale of fentanyl in New Mexico. “We do not need to be judged from the outside. We know what Mexico’s problems are and we act every day and we report it,” she emphasized.

The head of the Executive branch acknowledged that her government is permanently subject to public scrutiny and that accountability does not occur solely through annual reports.

“We render accounts every day and we are subject to public scrutiny every day and every day we deliver results,” she said.

For that reason, she reiterated that it would also be necessary to know the results of the actions undertaken by the United States within its own territory.

“But what is happening over there? So I would like to see a report from the government itself on the results there and what is being done,” she concluded.