Tariffs, migration and cartels will top Rubio's talks in Mexico and
Ecuador this week
[September 03, 2025]
By MATTHEW LEE and MEGAN JANETSKY
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Security, sovereignty, tariffs, trade, drugs and
migration — all hot-button issues for the Trump administration and its
neighbors in the Western Hemisphere — will top Secretary of State Marco
Rubio's agenda this week on his third trip to Latin America since
becoming chief U.S. diplomat.
The visit comes as the Trump administration has dramatically stepped up
operations against drug cartels in the Caribbean, including recent
military deployments and what it said was a lethal strike on a suspected
drug-carrying vessel.
In talks with leaders in Mexico and Ecuador on Wednesday and Thursday,
Rubio will make the case that broader, deeper cooperation with the U.S.
on those issues is vitally important to improving health, safety and
security in the Americas and the Caribbean.
Yet, President Donald Trump has alienated many in the region — far
beyond the usual array of U.S. antagonists like Cuba, Nicaragua and
Venezuela — with persistent demands, coupled with threats of sweeping
tariffs and massive sanctions for not complying with his desires.
US military strikes in waters off Latin America as Rubio heads to the
region
Shortly before Rubio left for Mexico, he and Trump announced the U.S.
military had carried out a strike in the southern Caribbean against a
vessel hauling drugs that departed from Venezuela.
Trump announced that the vessel was being operated by the Tren de Aragua
gang, which his administration has designated a foreign terrorist
organization, and that 11 people were killed in the strike, which he
said took place in international waters.
“Please let this serve as notice to anybody even thinking about bringing
drugs into the United States of America. BEWARE!” Trump said.
Rubio, speaking to reporters before boarding his plane to Mexico, said
Trump “is going to be on offense against drug cartels and drug
trafficking in the United States. It destabilizes not just the country
but the entire Caribbean basin.”
“The president has been very clear that he’s going to use the full power
of America and the full might of the United States to take on and
eradicate these drug cartels, no matter where they’re operating from and
no matter how long they’ve been able to act with impunity,” he said.
“Those days are over.”
Mexico has been a focus for Trump
Meanwhile, Trump has demanded, and so far won, some concessions from
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum's government, which is eager to
defuse his tariff threats.
Rubio arrived in Mexico City just a few hours after Sheinbaum had
planned to lead a meeting of the country’s most important security
forum, which brings together all 32 governors, the army, navy, federal
prosecutor’s office and security commanders to coordinate actions across
Mexico.
Sheinbaum had been talking for weeks about how Mexico was finalizing a
comprehensive security agreement with the State Department that, among
other things, was supposed to include plans for a “joint investigation
group” to combat the flow of fentanyl and the drug's precursors into the
U.S. and weapons from north to south.
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Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to reporters before boarding
his plane at Homestead Air Reserve Base in Homestead, Fla., en route
to Mexico City, Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin,
pool)
“Under no circumstance will we accept interventions, interference or
any other act from abroad that is detrimental to the integrity,
independence and sovereignty of the country,” she said Monday in her
State of the Nation address marking her first year in office.
Last week, however, a senior State Department official downplayed
suggestions that a formal agreement — at least one that includes
protections for Mexican sovereignty — was in the works.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to preview Rubio’s
meetings, said sovereignty protections were “understood” by both
countries without having to be formalized in a document.
Sheinbaum lowered her expectations Tuesday, saying it would not be a
formal agreement but rather a kind of memorandum of understanding to
share information and intelligence on drug trafficking or money
laundering obtained “by them in their territory, by us in our
territory unless commonly agreed upon.”
Mexico's president touts keeping close US ties
“There will be moments of greater tension, of less tension, of
issues that we do not agree on, but we have to try to have a good
relationship, and I believe tomorrow’s meeting will show that,"
Sheinbaum said of her meeting Wednesday with Rubio. "It is a
relationship of respect and at the same time collaboration.”
To appease Trump, Sheinbaum has gone after Mexican cartels and their
fentanyl production more aggressively than her predecessor. The
government has sent the National Guard to the northern border and
delivered 55 cartel figures long wanted by U.S. authorities to the
Trump administration.
The Trump-Sheinbaum relationship also has been marked by tension,
including the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration announcing a new
initiative with Mexico to combat cartels along the border that
prompted an angry denial from Sheinbaum.
Despite American officials singing her praises, and constantly
highlighting collaboration between the two countries, Trump glibly
said last month: “Mexico does what we tell them to do.”
The State Department has said Rubio, who has already traveled twice
to Latin America and the Caribbean this year, would focus on
stemming illegal migration, combating organized crime and drug
cartels, and countering what the U.S. believes is malign Chinese
behavior in its backyard.
He will show "unwavering commitment to protect (U.S.) borders,
neutralize narco-terrorist threats to our homeland, and ensure a
level playing field for American businesses,” the department said.
___
Associated Press writer María Verza contributed to this report.
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