Trump says US to ‘wage war’ on Mexican drug cartels

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump vowed Tuesday to “wage war” on Mexico’s drug cartels, which he accused of rape and murder as well as “posing a grave threat” to national security.

“The cartels are waging war on America, and it’s time for America to wage war on the cartels, which we are doing,” he told Congress in his first address since returning to power.

The warning came hours after Trump slapped 25 percent tariffs on Mexico and Canada, citing a lack of progress in stemming the flow of drugs such as fentanyl into the United States.

Cracking down on gang members and undocumented immigrants is a key priority for the Trump administration, which designated several Latin American cartels as foreign terrorist organizations last month.

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“The territory to the immediate south of our border is now dominated entirely by criminal cartels that murder, rape, torture and exercise total control,” Trump told the joint session of Congress.

“They have total control over a whole nation, posing a grave threat to our national security.”

Faced with mounting pressure from Trump, Mexico extradited 29 alleged drug traffickers to the United States last week.

The White House had earlier accused the Mexican government of having an “intolerable alliance” with drug trafficking groups, which President Claudia Sheinbaum rejected as “slander”.

“They want to make us happy. First time ever,” Trump said, referring to the extradiction.

“But we need Mexico and Canada to do much more than they’ve done, and they have to stop the fentanyl and drugs pouring into the USA.”

Sheinbaum warned the United States last month that Mexico would never tolerate an “invasion” of its national sovereignty in the fight against drugs.

“They can call them (the cartels) whatever they want, but with Mexico, it is collaboration and coordination, never subordination or interventionism, and even less invasion,” she said.

“We do not negotiate sovereignty,” added Sheinbaum, who last month announced the deployment of 10,000 more troops to the US-Mexico border, where cartels operate.