Mexican ports’ anti-narcotics effort is disrupted by the Trump assistance freeze

A United Nations initiative in Mexico to prevent imported fentanyl ingredients from reaching the nation’s drug cartels has been put on hold by U.S. President Donald Trump’s broad block on foreign funding, according to eight people with knowledge of the matter. Several U.S. counternarcotics initiatives in Mexico have been thwarted in recent weeks due to the stop-work order.

Through the effort, Mexico’s Navy received equipment and training to enhance cargo screening at the country’s main container port, the Port of Manzanillo. Lázaro Cárdenas and Veracruz, two more Mexican seaports, were supposed to be added this month, but the rollout has been put on hold because of the funding stoppage, according to six of the persons. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and the World Customs Organization collaborated to create the Container Control Program, which aids local authorities in improving cargo screening in an effort to prevent the smuggling of contraband over international borders. To start the project in the Port of Manzanillo in 2023, the U.S. contributed around $800,000, according to two of the individuals.

Narcos seeking to smuggle Chinese chemical precursors into Mexico to feed illegal laboratories that produce methamphetamine and synthetic opioids have long been drawn to the Port of Manzanillo.

On outgoing cargo ships, traffickers have also hidden completed street narcotics, especially meth intended for Europe. Future training and equipment donations in Manzanillo have also been put on hold for the time being due to the U.S. funding freeze, according to four of the sources. According to two sources, the port was scheduled to acquire more drug-testing equipment and cargo scanners.

When asked via email by Reuters about the administration’s decision to stop funding the Mexican port initiative, White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly did not respond. Trump is taking action to protect the border and reduce federal expenditure, she acknowledged.

Trump’s January 20 worldwide block on foreign aid has resulted in a halt to U.S.-funded anti-narcotics activities in Mexico, including the termination of the U.N. cargo program in Mexico. The stop-work order also stops U.S. contributions of drug-sniffing dogs to Mexico and U.S. training of Mexican police to locate and dismantle covert fentanyl factories, as previously reported by Reuters.

Since then, the Trump administration has granted exceptions so that various security initiatives throughout the world can once again get financing. The State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) has allocated $7.8 million to projects in Mexico that are intended “to dismantle terrorist criminal organizations and to counter production and trafficking of fentanyl,” according to a State Department official.

The remaining $50 million of INL’s budget for Mexico, which is mostly devoted to breaking the supply chain for fentanyl, is still frozen. The freeze has not been waived for the U.N. Container Control Program in Mexico, according to three sources. Without identifying which programs are being considered for possible exceptions, the State Department official stated that others are being considered.

The Trump administration’s attempts to combat the drug overdose issue in America may be jeopardized if financing for anti-narcotics initiatives in Mexico is stopped, according to former senior State Department official Enrique Roig.

Roig stated, “I just don’t see how stopping all these programs at this moment is going to have a positive impact on reducing the numbers of fentanyl deaths in the U.S.”

Over the past ten years, over 450,000 Americans have lost their lives to synthetic opioid overdoses, and millions more are addicted. A Reuters investigation last year showed how a murky supply chain for precursor chemicals, primarily from China, that are smuggled into North America by air and sea and then converted into final fentanyl in covert labs in Mexico, is the driving force behind this crisis.

The Trump administration has stated that one of its major goals is to stop the overdose crisis in the United States and to destroy the fentanyl supply chain. It has recently classified the Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation cartels in Mexico, who are thought to be the primary manufacturers of illegal fentanyl, as foreign terrorist organizations.

Mexico’s Navy, which is regarded as the most uncorruptible security force, has taken over the country’s seaports in recent years in an attempt to combat the smuggling of narcotics and the chemicals that make them. Officials from the United States and Mexico hailed the start of the U.N. program in Manzanillo in 2023 as another significant milestone.

According to the State Department source, the program’s training has assisted Mexican authorities in stopping a number of precursor chemical shipments, including roughly 90 tons of meth compounds in July 2024 and an additional 25 tons of meth chemicals in December. According to a Mexican official with knowledge of the U.N. initiative, it has improved the ability of law enforcement to spot the strategies used by smugglers to hide their cargo.

Peter Yeo, head of the Better World Campaign, an advocacy group that advocates for a tight partnership between the United States and the United Nations, stated that this kind of help is precisely what makes the United States safer and stronger.

Speaking to Reuters last year, two chemical brokers detailed how they transported tons of fentanyl ingredients through Manzanillo with little trouble, indicating that smuggling of drug-making ingredients is still a major issue at the port despite U.S. investment in equipment and training.

The ports of entry for chemicals into Mexico are not limited to Manzanillo.

The U.N. initiative was scheduled to launch this month at the Port of Veracruz on the Gulf of Mexico, which is regarded as a crucial location for heightened screening. Although the most direct sea route for merchandise arriving from Asia is via Mexico’s Pacific ports, such as Manzanillo, traffickers are increasingly sending Chinese fentanyl precursors to Mexico via Europe and the Atlantic Ocean, according to three sources. Furthermore, they noted that Veracruz is a key hub for the export of methamphetamine made in Mexico and trafficked into Europe.

Three sources estimated that the cost of expanding the freight operation to Veracruz and to Lázaro Cárdenas on the Pacific would range from $1.5 million to $2 million.

A similar U.N. program for cargo at airports, called AIRCOP, has also been discussed by the U.N. and Mexican authorities to be implemented at Benito Juárez airport in Mexico City, according to four sources.

According to officials, expanding to Mexico’s main airport is especially important in the battle against fentanyl since a high number of precursor chemicals are trafficked by air in little parcels rather than on large cargo ships. These plans may also be jeopardized by the U.S. funding block, according to a source with knowledge of the situation.

A request for response from Mexico’s foreign ministry and president was not answered, nor was the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime, which oversees the container program.

Although the United States has always sought a bilateral security relationship with Mexico, its neighbor, friend, and biggest trade partner, analysts believe Trump’s decision to halt U.S. security aid marks a significant change in how the United States combats Mexican drug traffickers.

Trump has openly demanded that the United States launch a “military operation” against the cartels in Mexico. Elon Musk, Trump’s close adviser, tweeted last week that following the United States’ designation of a few cartels as “foreign terrorist organizations,” “that means they’re eligible for drone strikes.”

In actuality, the designation does not, legally speaking, make military action in Mexico easier. However, by helping to create a case for military involvement, some observers suggested it may be a political first step toward that kind of action.

Claudia Sheinbaum, the president of Mexico, also declared last week that she will put up a constitutional amendment that would strengthen Mexico’s sovereignty.