Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum told reporters during her Feb. 14 news conference that Mexico will seek to extend lawsuits against U.S. armories and firearm manufacturers if the Trump administration goes through with its intentions of designating Mexican drug cartels as terrorist organizations.
"If they label organized crime groups as terrorists, we will have no option than to extend our lawsuits against the U.S., because as the Justice Department has already confessed, 74% of all firearms in possession of drug cartels come from the U.S.," Sheinbaum said. "So, where do the armories stand after the designation?" she added.
Sheinbaum's comments come just hours after a report from The New York Times said a total of eight criminal groups rooted in Latin America were expected to be designated as foreign terrorist organizations.
More concretely, the State Department plans to designate the Colombian-based Clan del Golfo organization as well as five other cartels based in Mexico: the Sinaloa cartel, Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación, Cartel del Noroeste, La Familia Michoacana and the Carteles Unidos.
The designations are also set to include the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and the Salvadorian gang Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13).
During the news conference, Sheinbaum said her administration will seek to expand its lawsuits against U.S. armories as she claims they could be cartel accomplices. "That is one of the topics we are reviewing," Sheinbaum said.
The Mexican president reiterated that a lawsuit currently exists against manufacturers and distributors of firearms. "If they proceed with the designations, we will have to extend that lawsuit against the U.S."
According to the New York Times report, the designation list was supposed to be completed last week but was delayed as the State Department expanded it from the groups outlined in Trump's Jan. 20 executive order calling for a crackdown on major cartels.
As the Trump administration debates whether to intervene on Mexican soil to counter drug cartels, Sheinbaum said that Mexico opposes any form of foreign intervention.
"We are never going to accept any foreign intromission and we will always defend our sovereignty," she added.
In late January, U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said during an interview with Fox News that the U.S. won't rule out military action in Mexico to prevent drugs from crossing the southern border.
"I don't want to get ahead of the president, and I won't. That's ultimately going to be his decision, but let me be clear: all options will be on the table if we're dealing with what are designated to be foreign terrorist organizations who are specifically targeting Americans on the border," Hegseth said.
During his television appearance, Hegseth added that the U.S. military intends to pursue the goals "robustly" and in case cartels continue to "pour people, gangs and drugs and violence into our country, we will take that on."
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