u.s. military

WASHINGTON — Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Friday that she and President Trump had a “cordial” hour-long meeting in Washington that ended with both leaders extending invitations to visit each other’s country.

“We’ll arrange a date later,” Sheinbaum told reporters outside of the Mexican Cultural Institute.

The meeting was the first time the two had met face to face and followed months of clashes between the United States and Mexico over several contentious issues, such as trade, immigration and how the combat drug trafficking.

But on Friday, the two world leaders were brought together by soccer.

Sheinbaum was in Washington to attend the FIFA World Cup 2026 draw at the Kennedy Center, alongside Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. The U.S., Mexico and Canada are co-hosting the soccer tournament, which begins in June.

In a social media post, Sheinbaum said the three leaders talked about “the great opportunity that the 2026 FIFA World Cup represents for the three countries and about the good relationships we have.”

“We agreed to continue working together on trade issue with our teams,” she added.

She later reiterated to reporters that the meeting had been “very positive,” and that she impressed upon Trump that Mexico is “extraordinary” country. She said she personally invited him to visit Mexico, and that he extended an invitation to come back to Washington.

Asked if Trump asked anything of her, she said he had “nothing in particular.”

After months of friction between the two countries, the meeting on Friday could break the ice and set the stage for policy negotiations as both presidents navigate pressures from their constituencies.

Since the start of his second term in January, Trump has threatened to impose large trade tariffs on Mexico, the United States’ largest trade partner — but so far, Sheinbaum has been able to stave off many tariffs.

Trump and his team have also been floating the prospect of U.S. strikes on suspected criminals and drug laboratories in Mexico. But Sheinbaum has insisted she would not allow the U.S. military to fight drug cartels within its nation’s borders.

The ongoing negotiations come as Mexicans’ attitutes toward Trump and the United States have continued to sour. In contrast, Mexicans continue to see their own government’s management of the border positively, according to a Pew Research Center report published in July.

The upbeat aftermath of Friday’s meeting belied profound differences of opinion between the leaders of two nations that have an almost 2,000-mile border and share deep economic, security and cultural ties.

The two North American presidents could hardly be more different: Sheinbaum is a scientist and life-long leftist activist who maintains a low-key demeanor; Trump is a real-estate scion who embraces right-wing talking points and craves being the center of attention.

Sheinbaum has had to walk a thin line as she has fought off Trump’s repeated threats to impose punishing tariffs on imports from Mexico, a nation heavily dependent on cross-border trade with the United States.

She has also rejected Trump’s suggestions that U.S. forces may intervene unilaterally in Mexico to attack drug cartels. She has maintained her mantra of “cooperation, not subordination,” even as Trump has mused about striking gangs in Mexico.

In various remarks, Trump has lauded Sheinbaum as “wonderful” and “brave,” while also declaring that she rejected U.S. military aid to fight Mexican cartels because she is is “scared to death” of the cartels.

Sheinbaum has assailed U.S. strikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean and Pacific that have left dozens dead. She has also declared Mexico’s opposition to U.S. military intervention in Venezuela or anywhere else in Latin America.

Repeatedly, the Mexican president has insisted that her country would be “nobody’s piñata.”

In his career, Trump has long used Mexico and Mexicans as a political punching bag, catering to anti-immigrant sentiment in the United States. Trump kicked off his 2016 presidential campaign declaring that Mexican immigrants were criminals, drug-runners and and “rapists” — though he acknowledged there were some “good people” among them — and repeatedly pledged to build “a big beautiful wall” along the U.S.-Mexico border that Mexico would pay for. It didn’t.

After Friday’s meeting, Ronald Johnson, the U.S. ambassador to Mexico, said on X that the encounter “reaffirmed a historic partnership based on results,” adding: “Their dialogue advances a high-level agenda focused on cooperation, security, and prosperity.”

Staff Writers Ceballos reported from Washington and McDonnell from Mexico City.