Story highlights Rex Tillerson and John Kelly spoke after meeting with Mexican officials

Washington (CNN) Senior US administration officials said revelations that rocked the White House this week have not hurt President Donald Trump's credibility overseas.

"People in the rest of the world do not have the time to pay attention to what is happening domestically here," Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Thursday after high-level meetings with Mexican officials about how to combat international drug cartels.

Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, at the State Department for the meeting, said he often deals with foreign counterparts and feels "no effect from when the President is taken to task by the press for something he may or may not have said, and certainly something he may or may not have meant."

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Trump is set to leave Friday on an eight-day trip to Saudi Arabia, Israel, Italy and Belgium, a trip that has now become a high-stakes test for the besieged White House.

Kelly and Tillerson spoke to reporters after meeting with their Mexican counterparts to discuss fighting cross border drug traffic that yields billions of dollars in revenue for criminal cartels. The meeting came as the administration notified Congress that it has started a 90-day countdown to renegotiate NAFTA, the 1994 trade pact between the US, Mexico and Canada.

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