Trump’s plans to designate cartels as terror groups draw swift reactions
CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico — A border wall. Mass deportations. Punishing tariffs. A halt to foreign aid. An end to a decades-old trade deal.
For years, President Donald Trump has pressured or wielded threats against Mexico, hoping to force a policy change, excite his political base, or both. This week, he did it again, announcing that he planned to designate Mexican drug trafficking groups as terrorist organizations.
Mr. Trump, who made the remarks in an interview with the former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly, didn’t specify which of the mosaic of criminal groups he intended to slap with the label. But the reaction in Mexico has been swift — and negative — as the nation considered the implications.
Mexican officials have suggested that the terrorist designations could challenge their nation’s sovereignty, and the foreign minister, Marcelo Ebrard, is seeking high-level talks with Trump administration officials about the matter.
Some analysts raised the specter of armed drone strikes on Mexican soil, or other covert American actions against drug traffickers, potentially without the knowledge or consent of the Mexican government. Speaking on Wednesday, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador mostly demurred on the subject but hinted that he did not welcome the prospect of secret American operations on Mexican territory.
“Cooperation: yes,” he said of the relationship between Mexico and the United States. “Interventionism: no.”
Mr. Trump said he planned to designate Mexican drug “cartels” as foreign terrorist organizations because of the high number of Americans killed by their activities, and that he had been working on the listing for three months.
In the exchange, posted on Mr. O’Reilly’s personal website, Mr. O’Reilly asked the president whether he was going to “start hitting them with drones.”
The president replied, “I don’t want to say what I am going to do, but they will be designated.”
The State Department declined to comment on Wednesday, referring several questions to the White House.