WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump on Sunday said Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum rejected his proposal to send U.S. troops to Mexico to help thwart the illegal drug trade because she is fearful of the country’s powerful cartels

The comments by Trump came a day after Sheinbaum confirmed that Trump pressed her in a call last month to accept a bigger role for the U.S. military in combating drug cartels in Mexico.

Trump said it was “true” that he proposed sending the troops to Mexico and lashed into Sheinbaum for dismissing the idea.

“Well she’s so afraid of the cartels she can’t walk, so you know that’s the reason,” Trump said in comments to reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday. “And I think she’s a lovely woman. The president of Mexico is a lovely woman, but she is so afraid of the cartels that she can’t even think straight.”

The U.S. military presence along the southern border with Mexico has increased steadily in recent months, following Trump’s order in January to increase the army’s role in stemming the flow of migrants.

The U.S. Northern Command has surged troops and equipment to the border, increased manned surveillance flights to monitor fentanyl trafficking along the border and sought expanded authority for U.S. Special Forces to work closely with Mexican forces conducting operations against cartels.

But Sheinbaum said that U.S. troops operating inside Mexico was going too far.

“He said, ‘How can we help you fight drug trafficking? I propose that the United States military come in and help you.’ And you know what I said to him? ‘No, President Trump,’” she said on Saturday. “Sovereignty is not for sale. Sovereignty is loved and defended.”

She added that she told Trump their two countries “can work together, but you in your territory and us in ours.”

Trump in February designated as “foreign terrorist organizations” many gangs and cartels smuggling drugs into the U.S. , restricting their movements and lending law enforcement more resources to act against them.

But Sheinbaum’s stance — and Trump’s response — suggest that U.S. pressure for unilateral military intervention could create tension between the two leaders after cooperation on immigration and trade in the early going of Trump’s second term.

Trump said the U.S. military is needed to stem the scourge of fentanyl in the United States.

“They are bad news,” Trump said of the cartels. “If Mexico wanted help with the cartels we would be honored to go in and do it. I told her that. I would be honored to go in and do it. The cartels are trying to destroy our country.”

The White House has also linked its efforts to reduce the flow of fentanyl to Trump’s tariff plan, saying he wants to hold Mexico, Canada, and China accountable for stemming the flow of the drug into the U.S.