Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has extradited cartel leaders, deployed troops to the border — and remained calm. So far, it’s worked.
Mexico has been in President Donald Trump’s crosshairs over border security and fentanyl for more than a decade. Yet it is the sole country to win a 90-day extension on trade talks, after steep penalties on dozens of other countries kicked in Thursday.
The reprieve reflects several months of behind-the-scenes work by Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum to cultivate a solid relationship with the ever-mercurial Trump. While the two have yet to meet in person, after a planned sit-down in Canada at the G7 summit in June was scuttled, they talk regularly on the phone.
During one of their early calls, Sheinbaum shared with Trump, who survived an assassination attempt, the personal risk she faced in agreeing to his request to extradite 29 alleged drug cartel members to the United States, according to a White House official and a former American official who worked on U.S.-Mexico issues during the first Trump administration. The moment highlighted Sheinbaum’s willingness to put her own safety at risk to work with him.
“She’s done a masterful job,” said Michael Camuñez, a former assistant secretary of Commerce at the International Trade Administration during the Obama administration, who now runs a binational business advisory firm. “She never takes the bait. She never gets out ahead of him. She always keeps the temperature icy cool.”