Claudia Sheinbaum has responded to Donald Trump’s description of Mexico as the “epicenter of violence,” by calling on the US government to step up efforts to combat gun trafficking.

“There is something that the US can help us a lot with: stop the trafficking of illegal weapons from the US to Mexico,” the president of Mexico said. “If they stopped the entry of illegal weapons from the United States into Mexico, then these groups wouldn’t have access to this type of high-powered weaponry to carry out their criminal activities.”

Sheinbaum noted that 75% of guns used by cartels come from the United States. Mexico has repeatedly called on the US government to halt arms trafficking and in 2021 sued several American gunmakers, accusing them of “negligent marketing, distribution and sales”, though the suit was tossed out by the US supreme court last year.

Sheinbaum’s comments responded to a speech made by Trump during a gathering of Latin American leaders at his Miami-area golf club on Saturday to establish what he called a “counter-cartel coalition”.

“The epicenter of cartel violence is Mexico,” Trump said during his Shield of Americas summit with Latin American leaders on Saturday. “The Mexican cartels are fueling and orchestrating much of the bloodshed and chaos in this hemisphere and the United States government will do whatever is necessary to defend our national security.”

Trump also called Sheinbaum a “beautiful woman” with a “beautiful voice” and said he had asked her to let him “eradicate the cartels” to which, according to Trump, Sheinbaum responded “No, no, no, please, president.”

Trump has regularly threatened to invade Mexico in order to tackle drug trafficking groups, threats that Sheinbaum has repeatedly rebuffed.

“It’s good that President Trump publicly says that when he has proposed that the United States military enter Mexico, we have said no,” she said on Monday. “Because it’s the truth.”

Viri Ríos, a Mexican political analyst, called Trump’s comments “sexist” and urged Mexicans to reject the US president’s assertion that Mexico was the source of cartel conflict.

“The epicenter of cartel violence is not Mexico, it’s the United States,” she said during an interview with W Radio. “The cartels are fueled by the United States’ demand for drugs and armed with US weapons, and thanks to the United States, they are able to orchestrate enormous bloodshed and chaos throughout Latin America.”