Trump muddies policy on drug flow, aid

A senior State Department official said that President Donald Trump’s remarks about cutting aid to countries that allow drugs into the U.S. was unhelpful, exposing a new rift that’s emerged between the White House and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s agency.

Trump made the comments Friday, the same day that Tillerson was meeting with top Mexican officials and delivering a message of greater cooperation in efforts to stem the flow of drugs across the border. Tillerson said it was only fair that the U.S. take some of the blame because it drives the demand for those drugs.

During a discussion at the Border Patrol National Targeting Center in Sterling, Va., Trump talked about the flow of drugs with Kevin McAleenan, acting commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. McAleenan informed the president that cocaine sent to the U.S. was produced “in Colombia and Peru, primarily” and trafficked up through Central America and Mexico.

“I won’t mention names right now, but I look at these countries, I look at the numbers we send them — we send them massive aid and they’re pouring drugs into our country and they’re laughing at us,” Trump said. “So I’m not a believer in that. I want to stop the aid. I want to stop the aid.”

Tillerson is on a weeklong tour of the region, visiting Argentina and Jamaica as well as Peru and Colombia, after a one-night stop in Mexico City.