Security & Strategic Review - August 2026

Mexico’s government led by President Claudia Sheinbaum has been working hard to demonstrate to the US administration of President Donald Trump that it is taking the fight against drug cartels seriously. Despite these efforts, the pressure from the US has continued, with the Trump administration now targeting allegedly corrupt Mexican officials as part of its wider campaign against cartels. This is pushing Sheinbaum’s willingness to cooperate to the limit, particularly as the US appears to be mainly targeting officials from the ruling Movimiento Regeneración Nacional (Morena). Tensions ramped up another notch at the end of June, with Sheinbaum vehemently rejecting international press reports suggesting that Morena officials were working as informants for the US government to provide incriminating information about fellow politicians from the ruling party.