Mexico president hits back at Trump's cartel terrorism plan

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador hit back at the U.S. on Wednesday, accusing it of interventionism after U.S. President Donald Trump said he was working to designate Mexico's drug cartels as terrorist organizations.

SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) PRESIDENT ANDRES MANUEL LOPEZ OBRADOR SAYING:

"I will only say cooperation, yes, intervention, no."

Lopez Obrador said Mexico would take up the issue after the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday and that he had asked his foreign minister to lead talks.

President Trump floated the idea in a radio interview with conservative personality Bill O'Reilly on Tuesday:

(SOUNDBITE) (English) CONSERVATIVE MEDIA PERSONALITY BILL O'REILLY SAYING:

"You're going to designate the Mexican cartels as terror groups.."

(SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP SAYING:

"Yeah, I will be.. Absolutely."

A growing chorus of conservative voices in the United States has called for Mexican cartels to be classified as terrorist groups after the killing of nine Americans with dual Mexican nationality in Mexico earlier this month.

But Mexico fears such a designation could, under U.S. law, enable the United States to act directly against the threat if it so chose.

Trump had offered in a tweet after the massacre of the Americans to help Mexico wage a quote "WAR" on the drug cartels.. An offer, Trump says, Mexico declined.