Pete Hegseeth threatened Mexico with military action as the neighbor of America in the South does not act on the demands of Donald Trump across border security.
The Minister of Defense insisted that Mexico deals with collusion between their government and drug cartels or the US would take action.
The movement 'shocked and angry' the Mexican officers on call, according to the Wall Street Journal.
On the same day, however, Hegseeth admitted that both he and Trump had discussed the strategy.
Trump now threatens 25% rates for Mexico and Canada that will come into effect on Tuesday.
The president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, said: “We still have three days” when he was asked how they deal with the threat.
They tried to appease Trump by delivering 29 drug cartel members to the United States earlier this week.
Earlier in his presidency, Sheinbaum bought herself a month after she sent 10,000 troops to the border.
Pete Hegseeth has made closed door threats of military action in Mexico if the neighbors of America do not agree with the conditions of Donald Trump on border security
The Minister of Defense said only a week after he was confirmed by the Senate that Mexico was dealing with collusion between their government and drug cartels or the US would take action
However, Trump does not seem to be impressed by the progress that Mexico has made on the border and the cartels.
On Thursday he wrote about Truth Social: “Drugs still flow into our country from Mexico and Canada on very high and unacceptable levels.”
He promised the rates again because “we don't allow this scourge to harm the US.”
Mexico has reportedly suggested that they will propose the US rates on China.
The country sent ministers to the United States to meet Hegseeth last week.
Trump has long had problems with the criminal rings and he promised during his campaign 'to wage war against the cartels'.
For their role in producing deadly drugs on their way to the US, such as Fentanyl, the president said he would bring the fight to the cartels to put the medicines in America.
Speaking with his former Fox News colleagues on January 31, Hegseeth revealed that Trump instructs him to make all the means needed to go after the cartels.
The Socialist President of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum
Host Brian Kilmead asked Hegseeth: “If we notice that they continue to shoot at border control and they continue to place fentanyl in our country, as a minister of Defense, are you now allowed to go after them in Mexico or where they are?”
“Brian, I don't want to get the president ahead and I won't do it,” the secretary started. “That will eventually be his decision.”
“But let me be clear,” he said. “All options will be on the table if we are dealing with what is designated as foreign terrorist organizations that focus specifically on Americans at our border.”
Hegseeth also noted that the American army is also shifting its attitude to better defend the country at home, including through threats from Mexico.
“The army orientates and shifts to a concept of the defense of home country on our sovereign territorial border,” Hegseeth told Kilmade. “That's something we will do and do it robustly.”
'If other options are needed to prevent the cartels from continuing to pour people, gangs and drugs and violence into our country – we will assume that. So the president will make that phone call. '
Since 2019, the number of Americans who died of Fentanyl has almost tripled, according to federal data, increased from 31,000 deaths by overdose to 87,000 in 2023.
The synthetic opioid – which is usually produced in Mexico with the help of ingredients from China – is responsible for around 80 percent of the deaths by overdose nationwide.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseeth told his former Fox News colleagues that Trump keeps 'all options' on the table to deal with Mexican cartels. This may mean that a series of different military tactics can be used against the criminal groups
The substance is deadly that fentanyl poisoning was the most important cause of death of Americans aged 18 – 45 in 2022.
“I will use all the required military assets, including the American navy, to impose the entire Navy Embargo on the cartels,” Trump promised in 2023. “We will guarantee that the waters of the Western Hemisphere are not used to moving illegal drugs to our country.”
Moreover, I will order the Ministry of Defense to make appropriate use of special troops, cyber warfare and other open and secret actions to cause maximum damage to cartel leadership, infrastructure and operations. '
The Republican also classified the cartels such as foreign terrorist organizations, a federal indication that could lead to real consequences for the criminal groups.
The real number of Americans that died because of fentanyl, however, varies in hundreds of thousands, not tens of millions.
Cartels have been increasingly hostile to the US in recent years.
