Trump has signalled that Washington could expand its campaign against drug cartels to include land-based military strikes inside Mexico, a move that would mark a major escalation and raise fresh questions over Mexico’s consent and regional stability.
US President Donald Trump has suggested that the US military could expand its operations against drug cartels to include land-based strikes inside Mexico, raising fresh questions about the future of US–Mexico relations and marking a potential escalation of American military involvement in the region.
Speaking to Fox News host Sean Hannity in an interview aired on Thursday night, Trump said Washington had largely shut down drug trafficking by sea and was now preparing to target cartels on land. “We’ve knocked out 97 percent of the drugs coming in by water. And we are going to start now hitting land, with regard to the cartels,” he said.
Trump claimed that criminal organisations were effectively running Mexico, describing the situation as “very sad” to witness. The White House did not respond to a request for comment on the remarks.
Any US military action against cartels on Mexican soil would represent a significant expansion of American operations beyond its borders and would almost certainly require cooperation from Mexico’s government — something that remains uncertain.
Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum has firmly rejected the idea. Earlier this week, she said the Americas “do not belong” to any single power, responding to Trump’s comments about Washington’s “dominance” of the hemisphere following the US capture of Venezuela’s leader Nicolás Maduro.
Trump said on Sunday that he has been pressing Sheinbaum to allow US troops to operate inside Mexico to tackle drug cartels, an offer he said she had previously rebuffed. Sheinbaum has repeatedly stressed that while cooperation with the United States is possible, any foreign military intervention would violate Mexico’s sovereignty. “Cooperation, yes; subordination and intervention, no,” she said.
Trump’s remarks come less than a week after US forces carried out a military operation in Venezuela that led to the capture of Maduro and his wife, Celia Flores. The Venezuelan government said more than 100 people were killed in the operation, which followed months of pressure on Maduro.
According to The New York Times, the Trump administration has carried out at least 35 known strikes on suspected drug boats in the Caribbean, resulting in 115 deaths.
Trump has previously floated the idea of military action inside Mexico. In November, he told reporters in the Oval Office that he would consider launching strikes across the southern border if necessary to stop drug trafficking.
The administration has also threatened military action involving Cuba, Colombia and Greenland in recent days, prompting criticism, including from within the Republican Party.
On Thursday, the US Senate held an initial vote on a War Powers Resolution aimed at blocking Trump from taking further military action in Venezuela. Five Republican senators supported the measure, indicating it has enough bipartisan backing to pass a final vote.
Senator Susan Collins of Maine said she supported the removal of Maduro but stressed that any additional military action would require congressional approval. “I distinguish that from what happens next,” she said, adding that broader use of force would trigger Congress’s constitutional role under the War Powers Act.
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